Dear Canonical
This “closed fonts beta” thing was a big PR mistake.
It’s not enough for you to push a proprietary font into Ubuntu in the default install. No, you can’t even release it publicly. You just had to release it as a closed-doors, “members-only” beta.
Think about it. Canonical develops one of the world’s flagship free operating systems. Now they have made a decision that runs contrary to the entire spirit of free software. They are going to bestow their free operating system with a proprietary font (because apparently using any of the better free fonts instead of DejaVu isn’t cool enough). Why a closed beta? Did Canonical suddenly become Blizzard?
They try to sweeten the pill by saying words like “It will be free for everyone to use and share”, adding, of course, that the license is not finalized. Judging by Canonical’s prior history with such “exclusive initiatives” ([coughubuntuonecough]), know what this means: we won’t get the source until the heat death of the universe.
And then I saw the package name: “ubuntu-private-nda-fonts”.
NDA?
That dreaded TLA that you never mention in the free software community, lest you get bombarded by rotten tomatoes?
Wait a minute. I have never signed any NDAs in my life. Did Canonical make me implicitly sign one just by being a member? Ow.
And before I get comments like “don’t use it if you don’t want to”: not only will I be forced to do that on default installations starting with Maverick, but I feel dirty just for having access to that PPA. I would like to have a way to get this privilege, which I feel embarassed for having, revoked.
you have access to the ppa as an ubuntu member? You don’t like the fact that its a member only privileged to view the font? You can get the fonts without signing an NDA?
Commit an act of civil disobedience..grab the fonts and redistribute the font publicly outside the PPA.
Such an action will most likely result in your Ubuntu membership being revoked.. thus revoking the privilege to NDA‘d material. Is your commitment to openness worth risking being excommunicated?