MESSAGE
| DATE | 2004-03-17 |
| FROM | Michael Richardson
|
| SUBJECT | RE: [hangout] Opinion: Software Freedom Day 2004
|
I checked with my church (First Unitarian Congregation in Brooklyn) located
at Pierpont and Monroe place. They have the August 28, 2004 open after 2PM.
And we can rent the chapel. It is on ground level and a good size space.
The rent is very reasonable.
"In The Business World An Executive Knows Something About Everything, A
Technician Knows Everything About Something, And the Switchboard Operator
Knows Everything." No one person is smarter than their team!
Contact information for Michael L. Richardson
mrichardson-at-abc.state.ny.us 1 212 961 8385 Main Line New York State Liquor
Authority 1 212 961 8314 My Direct Line NYS Liquor Authority 1 212 961 8382
Fax NYS Liquor Authority
miker-at-nylxs.com 1 718 627 0106 NYLXS, INC. & FREEDOM IT
michael.l.richardson-at-verizon.net 1 718 469 9242 Home Voice/Fax 1 718 213
1646 Cell
-----Original Message-----
From: Inker, Evan [mailto:EInker-at-gam.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2004 1:22 PM
To: 'Hangout-at-nylxs.com'
Subject: [hangout] Opinion: Software Freedom Day 2004
Opinion: Software Freedom Day 2004
http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=6287
You, the reader, are hereby invited to participate in a celebration of Free
and Open Source Software (FOSS) on August 28th this year. On that day we
will stage public events to inform the general public about the virtues of
FOSS. We invite you to form local teams and set up tables in town centers,
shopping malls, or wherever there are likely to be lots of people on a
Saturday.
Average computer users are not aware of FOSS, and at this point there is no
reason they would be. Even worse, certain proprietary software companies,
unwittingly aided by the press, have spread disinformation about FOSS.
Recent coverage has been especially disappointing, with spurious connections
being made between programmers and virus writers; this shows a clear lack of
knowledge in the mainstream press. In order to counter this trend, FOSS
users and enthusiasts must make more positive contributions to the
mainstream debate. We should provide positive stories to write about, not
simply respond to the latest FUD. A global day of FOSS celebration will give
us an opportunity to present our case to the media and directly to the
public.
But the real challenges are still only on the horizon. New lock-in
technologies such as Trusted Computing are going to make interoperability a
challenge, and legal instruments such as software patents have the potential
to stop FOSS in its tracks. Patented file-access routines will clearly not
be available as open source libraries, and the patents will prevent us from
making our own versions. The result may be that FOSS will be unable to share
data with a majority of programs on the Windows platform, something that
will render both Linux on the desktop and OpenOffice.org useless in many
people's eyes. This serious threat can only be successfully combated if we
are able to raise people's awareness of these issues. That is why we believe
that projects such as Knoppix, TheOpenCD, and now Software Freedom Day are
so important. The best guarantee of a vibrant FOSS community into the future
is that people in general grow fond of the Freedoms that FOSS can provide
and start demanding it in the same way they demand democracy and free
speech. Only then will politicians and companies listen. The power lies with
voters and consumers where numbers count, and time is running short.
It is against this background that we have formed softwarefreedomday.org.
Our aim is to organize an annual, global celebration of FOSS on the last
Saturday in August, starting with August 28th, 2004. We hope to build a
broad coalition in the FOSS community. As a first step we have contacted
major organizations such as the FSF, OSI, KDE, GNOME, the Berkman Center and
others, to tell them what we are doing and to invite them to collaborate.
The response has been positive, though no firm plans for common projects
have been made (we are, after all, just starting out). We are especially
interested in collaborating with other groups focusing on outreach
activities.
When trying to unite the various parts of the Free and Open Source
community, you eventually run into the terminology issue of Free vs. Open.
Personally, I think the term Open Source has been useful in getting a
foothold in the business world, but this term may now be of limited use to
us when we try to reach the wider public (what is source?). The average
person will probably be more interested in the implications for free
electronic speech than the technical development model. In his recent talk
at Harvard Law School, Eben Moglen made the case that the Free Software
movement is the Free Speech movement of the moment. This may be true, but I
also think we can not ignore the fact that the term Free in English still
means Gratis to most people. We need a fresh approach to getting our message
across in a way that still highlights the core concept of freedom, which is
why we settled on the phrase Software Freedom Day.
As important is Freedom is, however, it is not the only key element of FOSS.
The open development model pioneered by Linus Torvalds in his management of
the Linux kernel and later described by Raymond in The Cathedral and the
Bazaar is also a key component. The concept of releasing early and releasing
often, combined with open debate on mailing lists and forums helps to create
a vibrant community and a dynamism in the development process that closed
source development cannot match. It is this powerful process combined with
the strength of the GPL that has given us the solid offering of software
that is now on the verge of mainstream adoption. Credit should be given
where credit is due, which is why many choose to use the term GNU/Linux.
Many coders, artists, writers, and others have contributed to our common
pool of software, artwork and information simply because they enjoy the
technical challenges or the sense of community, and may not have had freedom
as a central focus. These contributions must also be recognized now when we
present these profound ideas and useful programs to the world. This is why
we as a project have adopted the somewhat long-winded term Free and Open
Source Software as our standard. Individual participants and groups may of
course use whatever term they like. Personally, I am starting to like the
simplified version of Free and Open Software, because while it is more
manageable than the longer version it still credits the various contributors
including non-programmers. The word Open now influences the reader's
interpretation of the word Free in the direction of Libre rather than
Gratis.
We hope to involve a large number of teams in the actual staging of the
event. These will be comprised of LUG members and other enthusiasts, who
will make local contributions all around the world. Each team will typically
set up a display stand in a public place to distribute printed information
and pressed CDs with selected high quality and user friendly FOSS. These CDs
should also include a range of appropriately licensed introductory
literature. Some teams might have computers available for demonstration, and
there may be keynote speakers in lecture halls and on web-casts or public
showings of 'Revolution-OS'. We should also aim to invite people into our
on-line communities so that they can continue to explore the world of FOSS
also after the 28th of August. After all, some of these concepts take some
time to get one's head around. If some of the outreach teams had network
access out in the street, we could sign people up for our on-line portals on
the spot, have dedicated IRC channels or a gallery of web-cams from around
the world. That would make it a truely global happening! Our imagination is
the only limit and we look forward to seeing what groups around the world
come up with.
Our role as a project will be to help coordinate things and provide the
required infrastructure, including a web portal, posters and fliers, and
most importantly, high quality (pressed) CDs with FOSS that the teams can
distribute on Software Freedom Day. To finance all this, we will be seeking
sponsorship from local and global FOSS-friendly companies. The weeks
preceding Software Freedom Day should be used to inform the media about our
plans, to distribute fliers, and to hang up posters inviting locals to
attend. We should also use the opportunity of this event to send letters to
politicians and companies in which we give our views on software patents and
related issues.
So, please join us and bring your friends! We have much to celebrate, and
it's time that everyone had an opportunity to discover the wonderful world
of Free and Open Source Software.
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____________________________
NYLXS: New Yorker Free Software Users Scene
Fair Use -
because it's either fair use or useless....
NYLXS is a trademark of NYLXS, Inc
____________________________
NYLXS: New Yorker Free Software Users Scene
Fair Use -
because it's either fair use or useless....
NYLXS is a trademark of NYLXS, Inc
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