Over the top

Over the top

What I am arguing is that we should, if we want to have some role for Open Source in society's future other than supporting locked-down systems, respect other folks rights as we would have them respect ours.

I dont think anyone disagrees with that. I also dont think it is at all on point. No one has any right to take control of my computer from me, period, end of story.

Many people clearly believe they have such a right but they are mistaken. This is not a conflict between my rights and their rights, it's a conflict between my rights and their desires. My rights win.

The Okular maintainers are not violating my rights - they are in no way forcing me to use their software, and they have the right to make it however they think right. Although their choice in this situation makes it clear they are dangerous lunatics, that is their right.

The same can be said for the Debian maintainers, although it is much more disturbing given the long commitment from Debian to respecting users rights. But in the end, we dont have to use Debian either.

But really, if this becomes more than an isolated incident but a harbinger of how Debian looks to move forward, then Debian will die, or morph into some sort of corporate controlled fifth column. I dont want to see either of these things happen.