MESSAGE
| DATE | 2003-02-17 |
| FROM | Dave Williams
|
| SUBJECT | Re: [hangout] Re: [fairuse] Re: [Marketing] Re: Open Source for National and Local eGovernment Programs in the U.S. and EU
|
On Mon, 2003-02-17 at 01:30, David A. Wheeler wrote:
> --- Ruben I Safir wrote:
> > i think we've reached a point where we need to force the organizers
> > of such events to think if a company like Microsoft is actually
> > making a contribution to the community and our events,
> > and stop giving them a free pass to disrupt the
> > communities efforts to position itself as a
> > competitor of Microsoft.
>
> This is a groundless concern.
>
> The conference will give ample opportunity for the
> Free Software Movement and the Open Software Movement to
> clearly state that they are competitors to Microsoft's current
> approach, and I expect them to do so. I suspect that Microsoft
> will make that clear as well.
>
> Attendees will generally know that anyway. There are _plenty_ of
> news articles that make this clear. At this point, you have to
> be under a rock to not realize there's a competition going on.
You are welcome to regard the concern as groundless, but that doesn't
make it invalid or unsound. You are also welcome to make assumptions
regarding public perception.
I can't help but regard this as a necessary issue -- no one should use a
movement for one's political advantage, or misrepresent an event while
making deals unilaterally. Although there is little chance that the
organizers will see the error of their ways, it is my hope that future
self-promotion will be difficult when connected to Open Source Software
and events will be carefully labeled to avoid misrepresentation.
____________________________
New Yorker Free Software Users Scene
Fair Use -
because it's either fair use or useless....
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