Mozilla Asks for License Integration into Ubuntu
Before Ubuntu users can run the Firefox open source browser, they will henceforth need to accept extensive licensing terms. According to Mark Shuttleworth, the terms were imposed by Mozilla Corporation.
Users of the next Linux version, Intrepid Ibex, will be greeted with a Mozilla End-User License Agreement (EULA) when they open the browser.
In a mailing list, users first declared this license behavior to be a bug and the agreement to be “largely irrelevant to Ubuntu users.” Ubuntu founder Shuttleworththen quickly jumped in to explain: “Mozilla Corporation asked that this be added in order for us to continue to call the browser Firefox.” Not that Shuttleworth is happy with the decision, which he feels does not constitute a “best practice” for users: “It's unfortunate that Mozilla feels this is absolutely necessary.”
Mozilla opened a fierce debate with this demand targeting the popular distribution, with annoyed responses from countless sources. Some users took the imposed EULA to mean that Mozilla’s Firefox is no longer free software. Several even suggested to “take a cue” from Debian and change to Iceweasel/Icedove as the default browser; others voted for the Gnome Epiphany browser.
Only a few users showed understanding for the licensing decision and considered it customary. For example, Vadim Peretokin commented: “Seeing an EULA the first time you launch a browser might be a bit odd to new users, it's not such a huge usability problem. People are used to it.”
Tag Cloud
News
-
Google and NASA Partner in Quantum Computing Project
Vendor D-Wave scores big with a sale to NASA's Quantum Intelligence Lab.
-
Mageia Project Announces Mageia 3 Linux
Many package updates and Steam integration highlight the latest from the Mandriva-based community Linux.
-
FSF Outs the World Wide Web Consortium over DRM Proposal
Richard Stallman calls for the W3C to remain independent of vendor interests.
-
Debian 7.0 Debuts
The new release supports nine architectures, 73 human languages, and zero non-Free components.
-
Alpha Version of Fedora 19 Released
Fedora developers release the first alpha version of Fedora 19, known as Schrödinger’s Cat, for general testing. The final release is expected in July 2013.
-
ack 2.0 Released
ack is a grep-like, command-line tool that has been optimized for programmers to search large trees of source code.
-
SUSE Studio 1.3 Released
New features in SUSE Studio 1.3 include enhanced cloud integration, VM platform support, and lifecycle management.
-
Xen To Become Linux Foundation Collaborative Project
The Linux Foundation recently announced that the Xen Project is becoming a Linux Foundation Collaborative Project.
-
RunRev Releases Open Source Version of LiveCode
Open source version of LiveCode is now available for developing apps, games, and utilities for all major platforms.
-
OpenDaylight Project Formed
OpenDaylight is an open source software-defined networking project committed to furthering adoption of SDN and accelerating innovation in a vendor-neutral and open environment.