Rare Photos: Gnu Crashing a Windows 8 Launch Event

New submitter Atticus Rex writes "Reporters and security guards at the Windows 8 launch event weren't sure how to react when they were greeted by a real, live gnu. The gnu — which, on closer inspection, was an activist in a gnu suit — had come for some early trick-or-treating. But instead of candy, she had free software for the eager journalists. The gnu and the Free Software Foundation campaigns team handed out dozens of copies of Trisquel, a fully free GNU/Linux distribution, along with press releases and stickers. Once they got over their confusion, the reporters were happy to see us and hear our message — that Windows 8 is a downgrade, not an upgrade, because it steals users' freedom, security and privacy."

Comments

Sounds like a plan

[colinrichardday]

Way to spread the word!

Crashing, huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

When I read the headline I was expecting something involving forcing their way into the event. This, however, turns out to be the kind of positive thing we want to present the community with. Also, that is a sweet head!

It was funny in 1995

[Joe U]

It was funny in 1995 when the "protesters" were in front of CompUSA on 35th street in Manhattan. It was cute when they were outside PC Expo in 1996. Started to get kinda sad at the Windows 98 launch and went downhill after that.

Now they're just a sideshow attraction.

Re:It was funny in 1995

[fm6]

Especially when they're pushing a distro nobody's ever heard of and which does a terrible job of promoting itself. I looked on both Trisquel's home page and its Wikipedia entry, and the only justification I could find for its existence was that it had Gallician support. (Why they didn't just contribute Gallician localization to an existing distro is unclear.) Other than that, it appears to be a simple Ubuntu fork.

Now that is ironic. Not just a fringe OS, but a fringe version of the OS. How fringe? The very existence of the Gallician language is controversial. It's spoken only in the northwest corner of Spain, which would be part of Portugal if borders were drawn by actual cultural boundaries. (The Portugese language originated there.) But it's unpatriotic to refer to Gallician as a dialect of Portugese, so they have to pretend have their own language, mainly distinguished by the fact that Gallicia refuses to participate in efforts to reform Portugese spelling.

Do Linux zealots actually work at being marginal?

Re:It was funny in 1995

[Anonymous Coward]

The reason for promoting Trisquel is that it is one of the few Linux distributions on the FSF's approved list of completely free distributions. It's basically Ubuntu with a free kernel and without the option of installing Flash. Trisquel is one of the few distributions on the FSF's approved list which is quite user friendly. Personally, I'd rather they hand out a distribution with all the Linux firmware and drivers to provide better hardware support, but the FSF isn't about being practical, they are focused on software freedom.

Re:It was funny in 1995

[JabberWokky]

you imply that FSF actually matters.

With not much enthusiasm, I simply note that two decades ago I couldn't run anywhere near the phenomenal library of free and Free software that I do today. Three decades ago, I was closer to being able to, so there was a very serious period of "you must license your software and only companies can own or alter it". I don't have much enthusiasm because it's a pretty non-notable fact these days. If you're coding something new, you first look for libraries or code that does much of what you need, and then use them for free. That's not surprising to say. Two decades ago, it would be.

So the FSF pretty much won (as did the many many non-FSF coders who contributed). Maybe not in terms of global dominance, but in real terms of "I can use my system and do what I want because I have rights to the software and can alter it at whim". This state of things was not a certain outcome. Now it is simply part of the IT world we take for granted.

Re:It was funny in 1995

[pnot]

Amen. I use Ubuntu and am happy (on a pragmatic level) to have a set-up that's maybe 98% free software. I would sooner punch myself in the nuts than switch to Trisquel, but I'm keenly aware that were it not for RMS's single-mindedness, I would probably be using a set-up that's 98% non-free (or, more likely, doing something entirely different because the world of computers wouldn't interest me as much).

So it wasn't a real, live Gnu...

[BrownLeopard]

...but someone in a Gnu suit? Kind of misleading, yeah? I do have to agree with the other posters though. It does seem like trolling an event. If Microsoft came into a Gnu event it would be bashed as them crashing a party. Same kind of thing here.

Powell's colon

[Tablizer]

John SuGnuGnu said only a Gnu could love a Gnu.

Re:Worthless

[larry bagina]

Look, she can't help it if she's not pretty. Or if she's too poor to afford nice clothes.

FREE software is like people -- what's on the inside matters more than the external appearance.

Re:Windows 8 downgrades security?

[Call Me Black Cloud]

Citation needed.

You must be gnu here...

Re:Worthless

[VAElynx]

If you think the purpose of a demonstration/event is "nude tits for the onlookers", you're a moron whose thought centre has moved from cranium to crotch.

Re:OS/2 crashing

[icebraining]

That's nothing. Windows 98 crashed its own show.

Re:Worthless

[SuperMooCow]

Use a 3D printer to print bitcoins to pay for Windows 8, you say? What a great idea!