MESSAGE
| DATE | 2003-02-11 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout] egov-OS
|
Dear Tony:
It has come to my attention through my membership that your
conference of egov-os is to put Microsoft on a panel, and/or give
them exposition space.
Since our membership, who has been selling Free Software for
several years, has been just recently burned by the Microsoft
presence at the 'Linux' World Expo, when Microsoft upsurped an ill
gotten award for closed proprietary software which they produced with
an illegal competitive advantage, we have determined that on moving forward,
it is inappropriate for Microsoft to make presentations at they types
of events without first making a real contribution to the community.
As I'm certain your aware, Microsoft, unlike any other company,
has aggressively moved to destroy the free Software and Open
Source Community. They have lied about the GPL and used their
large marketing budget to spread their lie. They have changed
internal networking protocols for the sole purpose of breaking
SAMBA and other services. They have flatly claimed to not being
an Open Source Compaining and lieing implied that they are a
'commercial' company instead, which implies that Red Hat is somehow
not such a money making business.
At every turn, they have tried to destroy Free Software, and the
most serious attacks are the coming DRM initiatives, as recently
outlined in the Register (register.com).
Microsoft, in a word, does not make the basic criteria to be
a presenter at the EgovOS conference. They have no expereince
in the development, advocacy, use or marketing of Free Software.
they have even refused to port closed systems to any free platform.
It's not in the interest of the community for them to be accepted
to speak from the ronstrum at this event. And in giving them time
you are distracting the conference from the set goals of the conference
according to the first page on the egovos website.
As such, we at NY Fair Use, NYLXS, and the FSF are asking you to
deny Microsoft a platform for which to advocate closed systems
and to confuse the public.
It's been suggested that this would be paramount to censorship.
But this would not be the case. If this was any other entitiy
which had behaved in a similar fashion, we would not even be
discussing the issue at present. Microsoft's size does not
alone justify a place at the table. Microsoft has many venues
in which to try to influence government, and they both proper, and
improper, even criminal use of these venues. The purpose of the
egov-OS conference is clear advocacy, and not for academic debate
of their harsh licensing schemes, one of which they recently
renamed 'Shared Source'.
Further, no company should be rewarded for their misdeeds, of which
Microsoft is unique in American Business History. No company has ever
been convicted TWICE of antitrust activity and still survived. It is
an indication of just how confused the public has become on issues
relating to digital systems and their role in civil libererties and
business law that that have not faced a major breakup.
Adding Microsoft to the panel will further coonfuse the target
audience, especially the government decision makers, in regard to
the issues surrounding the deployment of Free Software Government
wide. There is no historical basis to think otherwise.
We are asking for you to remove Microsoft from any official
panels or floor space until they can behave like a responsible
Open Source or Free Software citizen. Or, to put it another way,
tell them they can get on the panel when the earn a place, not
buy one.
Ruben Safir
NY Fair Use http://fairuse.nylxs.com
NYLXS http://www.nylxs.com
--
__________________________
Brooklyn Linux Solutions
__________________________
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____________________________
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Fair Use -
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