I maybe wrong but I do belive QT isn't fee software as define by the FSF/GNU

cause to be "free" software

you must be able to use it for "any purpose"

this gets confusing, cause if you pay a fee you can use it for any purpose, and the GPL doesn't forbid charging fees.

so it's like a company can require you to pay a distrobutions before you can acquire the program,then it's licensed under GPL , then it's free software, you can't do what you want with it.

but if the program is GPL and the company says "you can't do this or this, with out paying us a fee" it's not free software, or at least not by FSF strict defenition

I think the submitter has misread the original post. It does not state that UserLinux will include KDE. Only that Bruce's company, Perens LLC, will provide commercial support for KDE.

> GPL in a place where we would prefer to put the LGPL
you who? Do you have a system of voting? If not why do
you not implement one first of all? (and make it public)
That issue (GPL vs LGPL) only slows down the linux spread & development. Before UL this issue could have been acceptable. When I read about companies asking for UL, and
your dropping KDE, I knew something wass wrong because the majority of those comp. ask for advanced & stable & COMPLETE & backed desktop/framework.
It's really difficult to buy this GPL vs LGPL issue.
IMO, you & Stallman & others are giving fire to your credits this way.

Bruce's decisions about UL and the exclusion of anything Qt has undergone numerous transformations. First, it was because Qt couldn't produce a 'cottage industry' of commercial support. When this was pointed out to be demonstrably false, Bruce retreated into the, 'but Qt isn't free' argument... knowingly choosing to obfuscate the old 'Free (libre) VS free (gratis) canard of the community. When Free Software developers called him on this reprehensible tactic, Bruce retreated into the, 'but we just can't possibly support everything' argument.

Now, Bruce is learning from real commercial companies that KDE/Qt support is mandatory and he's having to distance himself from the craving anti-Qt trolls on his own list. The sad thing? Bruce missed a valuable opportunity to really work with KDE developers and the broader community by choosing instead to cater to his own bias and that of his sympathetic community of anti-Qt trolls. Now, he has lost a lot of his credibility in the eyes of many.

We all should be painfully aware of the power of preloads vs. the weakness of non-preloads. All desktop systems should be have both GNOME and KDE preloaded and ready, as neither desktop has a lock on desirable applications, and both desktops have highly useful applications.