Stallman Calls Ubuntu Spyware; Asks FLISOL Not to Recommend It at Events in South America ~pj

I am, of course, researching Nokia, but while I am doing that (do send me anything of interest on that topic), I thought you'd be interested to see an email that Richard Stallman sent to Lista Nacional de FLISOL, the FLISOL mailing list. He asks them not to promote or distribute Ubuntu at their events, and it's in Spanish, so I'll put my translation, imperfect though it is, afterward, section by section:

Los eventos FLISOL frecuentemente promueven y distribuyen Ubuntu. Eso siempre era un problema. Aunque Ubuntu es una distro de GNU/Linux, contiene también programas privativos. Ha olvidado la meta de un sistema libre. [PJ: FLISOL events frequently promote and distribute Ubuntu. This is always a problem. Although Ubuntu is a GNU/Linux distro, it contains proprietary programs. It has forgotten the goal of a free system.]

Ubuntu ya hace algo peor: espía al usuario. Las funcionalidades malevolas, que son comunes en el software privativo, son inusuales en el software libre; pero nuestra defensa no es perfecta. Uno de los pocos ejemplos de spyware en el software libre es Ubuntu. [PJ: Ubuntu does something worse. It spies on its users. Malevolent functionality which is frequently part of proprietary software is rare in free software, but our defense is not perfect. One of the few examples of spyware in free software is Ubuntu.]

Véase por favor http://gnu.org/philosophy/ubuntu-spyware.es.html. [PJ: Please read this (at the link).]

Les pido entonces que, en sus eventos FLISOL, no distribuyan ni promuevan Ubuntu. [PJ: Therefore I ask you that in the FLISOL events, you don't distribute or promote Ubuntu.]

When his request was turned down by that event organizer, saying that it limited users' freedom of choice, he followed up with another to the whole list, giving his reasons and asking them to reconsider. It has touched off quite a discussion, needless to say. Look for the theme on that page: [Flisol] Eventos totalmente libres (pedido de Richard Stallman) if you'd like to follow along. Google has machine translation here, if you wish to check it.