Linus said that the whole public consultation process was a sham and that he heard that FSF ignored all the input from the discussion committees. He even said that this annoyed him more than the DRM stuff. I think it was on ZDNet.
So this article shows what the discussion committees actually think, instead of what Linus says he heard they think.
I'm not saying he misreported this intentionally. Maybe some people with an agenda sought him out and casually mentioned their frustration to him at the water cooler. I don't know.
Issues such as DRM cannot be tackled by consumer choices in the market. There are two reasons.
First, the market is not granular enough. The consumer will never be given the choice of DRM'd CDs vs. DRMless CDs. The options are decided by marketing teams, and they will give consumers choices such as DRM'd CDs or nothing.
Secondly, like a mutual-loss based price war between two companies where the rich one waits for the poorer one to run out of funds, in this battle, if the consumers ever lose, there is no way back. Once DRM is pervasive, consumers no longer have any way to leverage the DRMers. If an ISP wants people to accept worse service, they have to offer something (such as a lower price) constantly. If a company wants consumers to accept DRM, they just have to get consumers to accept this once and to purchase DRM'd hardware (and they do this by leveraging a tangental market, such as the content industry), and then there is no way for the consumer to roll this back.
I'm glad you think these should be widely read or listened to. I've emailed all the mailing lists I'm on, and have submitted it to news sites such as slashdot. Please also spread these URLs around as much as possible. Thanks.
When you have a monopoly, you are obliged not to abuse the monopoly to increase your market share in related sectors.
No regulation is anarchy, which leads to feudalism. Anti-trust is there to maintain competition, and it is used very infrequently, so it is not "big government" at all.
Last weekend, I met the vice-president of the organisation I work for for the first time. I've been working there over a year. I think I've met my boss 5 times.
We try to go to free software conferences more than normal so that we all bump into each other.
Other than that, it's pretty much email all the way, with a little irc.
Stallman hasn't asked for people to stop crediting Linus - he suggests "GNU/Linux", not just "GNU".
The existence of Linux took away the big need to develop a GNU-compatible kernel. If Linux didn't exist, maybe the kernel of FreeBSD would have been adapted, or maybe Hurd would have remained a core project. But this is just speculation.
Having written GNU, I have confidence that the GNU project would have met the challenge of developing a kernel if the pressure wasn't taken off by Linux.
So Linus wrote Linux, and the GNU project wrote GNU.
Talking about a t-shirt which showed Linus as a sword-wielding leader:
"It's ironic," says Stallman mournfully. "Picking up that sword is exactly what Linus refuses to do. He gets everybody focusing on him as the symbol of the movement, and then he won't fight. What good is it?"
Well it's always nice to have people come visit, and it's no different
when IDG's LinuxWorld comes to town. We had big smiles on our faces at
the FSF office recently, when journalists called to ask for our reaction
to the LinuxWorld announcement, that they were coming to Boston in part
because it was the birthplace and headquarters of the Free Software
Foundation---which launched the Open Source Movement?
Why? Why do we get this constant repackaging of what we stand for? And
always from organizations who by now should know better. Heaven knows
we've explained it often enough, haven't we? When was the last time you
heard the advocates of Open Source being asked to make a reference to
the fundamental ethical and political issues of Freedom in Software.
Never, because Open Source plays to the media interests that require a
sanitized version of what the real drivers were behind the birth of a
GNU/Linux world.
It seems that some words are hard to say, and some would have us give in
to their limiting Orwellian speak. Well tough, it's the Free Software
Movement; listen up, because you're in Freedom's home town.
Boston famously has a red brick trail mapped out across its streets,
called the Freedom Trail, linking many of the American Revolution's most
historic sites. No doubt many visitors to Boston's LinuxWorld will walk
this Freedom Trail at some point this week, and we invite them to pop in
and say hello, thereby creating an unofficial stop on Freedom's Trail.
This could also be a visitor's last chance to see what has been FSF's
home for the past 10 years. We receive many visitors each month, cameras
in hand, who want to see the reality behind the opening lines of the
GPL:
Re:I'm the only GNU/Linux user in the office
on
Why Windows is Slow
·
· Score: 1
It sounds to me like you're the tech who everyone calls because they present themself as having a clue, charges way too much for service, but then blames every stinking problem on the OS, saying "you have a virus, you should use linux."
You've got the wrong guy. I'm not a tech, and I don't charge. I'm trying to work on the campaign against software patents in Europe, but people around me are asking for help because their computer is slow and windows are popping up all the time. The worst thing is that sometimes they even buy a new computer because their old one is slow and I'm sure the real reason for the new one is to try run the new viruses fast enough so that the other applications also get some work done.
I'm the only GNU/Linux user in the office
on
Why Windows is Slow
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Windows PCs are plagued with viruses.
The office has converted to using Firefox, and OpenOffice is climbing up the side of the desk, but the operating system is still Windows and the viruses they picked up before moving to Firefox are still there.
The Anti-virus software is often disabled by a virus, and Internet Explorer can't be fully removed. It can't even be fully disable since it's needed by Windows Update. (Although Windows Update is blocked by viruses on half of the computer).
I'm seen as "the tech" because I fit the profile, but I'm actually more of a lobbyist, but I still get asked for tech support.
Before this case, the GPL was taken to court twice, and it was upheld twice. Something about MySQL in the USA, and another case in Germany.
One of the goals of the GPLv3 consultation process is to identify enforcement issues in all the legal regions of the world. Yet another win in court doesn't give us anything to fix, but it's good to know that Stallman's written a solid licence - GPLv3 should be GPLv2 but better.
In Ireland, a "scamp" is like a rascal. Like when a child does something and almost gets away with it, and no one's made, they'd be called a little scamp.
Is it not so in other countries or are SCO just the stupidest company ever to last this long?
Inviting MS has two potential advantages. First, it can make the event more controversial which helps spread the news into the mass media, and second it can allow the event to be a non-partisan event which shows both sides.
To make either of these possible values happen, MS need to be addes near then start of the organising. You should make sure they fund the event too since it will be you gathering the best audience possible and then handing MS the microphone. Finally, put them on early or mid-day and make sure the closing speaker can rebut an sooth the FUD that was spewed.
For the FOSS Means Business event, it was suggested that we get Microsoft to take part and make a big controversial event (since Perens and Stallman would be the other keynoters).
We decided against because MS have it too easy. They don't have to prove their offering is better, they just have to raise enough FUD so that transitions to free software are delayed for one more year. Just like last year, and probably like next year. So we decided against, and instead of controversy we'll concentrate on showing the business value of free software, and why it is sustainable.
FOSS MEANS BUSINESS, Belfast, Thursday March 16
on
iPod Video Dissection
·
· Score: 1
Slashdot Mirror
Linus said that the whole public consultation process was a sham and that he heard that FSF ignored all the input from the discussion committees. He even said that this annoyed him more than the DRM stuff. I think it was on ZDNet.
So this article shows what the discussion committees actually think, instead of what Linus says he heard they think.
I'm not saying he misreported this intentionally. Maybe some people with an agenda sought him out and casually mentioned their frustration to him at the water cooler. I don't know.
Issues such as DRM cannot be tackled by consumer choices in the market. There are two reasons.
First, the market is not granular enough. The consumer will never be given the choice of DRM'd CDs vs. DRMless CDs. The options are decided by marketing teams, and they will give consumers choices such as DRM'd CDs or nothing.
Secondly, like a mutual-loss based price war between two companies where the rich one waits for the poorer one to run out of funds, in this battle, if the consumers ever lose, there is no way back. Once DRM is pervasive, consumers no longer have any way to leverage the DRMers. If an ISP wants people to accept worse service, they have to offer something (such as a lower price) constantly. If a company wants consumers to accept DRM, they just have to get consumers to accept this once and to purchase DRM'd hardware (and they do this by leveraging a tangental market, such as the content industry), and then there is no way for the consumer to roll this back.
I had to forget something. Here's a transcript of comments by Alan Cox.
After my submission was rejected, I figured another submission based on this story was in the queue, so I put the below links together:
Four transcripts which include the post-talk Q&A sessions from presentations by Richard Stallman and Eben Moglen:
And two very useful docs:
I'm glad you think these should be widely read or listened to. I've emailed all the mailing lists I'm on, and have submitted it to news sites such as slashdot. Please also spread these URLs around as much as possible. Thanks.
Anti-trust is not about big government.
When you have a monopoly, you are obliged not to abuse the monopoly to increase your market share in related sectors.
No regulation is anarchy, which leads to feudalism. Anti-trust is there to maintain competition, and it is used very infrequently, so it is not "big government" at all.
Indeed, the MS anti-trust case is going well for us.
This reminds me of U Po Kyin from Georg Orwell's "Burmese Days".
Of course, the gates foundation is about covering up mass deaths, not redeeming bad deeds.
Last weekend, I met the vice-president of the organisation I work for for the first time. I've been working there over a year. I think I've met my boss 5 times.
We try to go to free software conferences more than normal so that we all bump into each other.
Other than that, it's pretty much email all the way, with a little irc.
The next big free software conference in Europe is the 3rd international GPLv3 conference in Barcelona, June 22/23.
Before that, I saw my boss in Manchester, England, and before that we met in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
You can leave politics alone, but it won't leave you alone. That's why the GNU philosophy was necessary.
Stallman hasn't asked for people to stop crediting Linus - he suggests "GNU/Linux", not just "GNU".
The existence of Linux took away the big need to develop a GNU-compatible kernel. If Linux didn't exist, maybe the kernel of FreeBSD would have been adapted, or maybe Hurd would have remained a core project. But this is just speculation.
Having written GNU, I have confidence that the GNU project would have met the challenge of developing a kernel if the pressure wasn't taken off by Linux.
So Linus wrote Linux, and the GNU project wrote GNU.
Talking about a t-shirt which showed Linus as a sword-wielding leader:
"It's ironic," says Stallman mournfully. "Picking up that sword is exactly what Linus refuses to do. He gets everybody focusing on him as the symbol of the movement, and then he won't fight. What good is it?"
From Chapter 13 of the biography of Stallman.
There is also a page on GNU.org for audio recordings of (mostly) Richard's talks.
Ugh. Relative/absolute link mixup, here's where to find the first two transcripts:http://www.ifso.ie/documents/#transcri pts
Glad to see this increasing
Peter Brown, Exec Dir of FSF, wrote a blog entry on this last year:
Well it's always nice to have people come visit, and it's no different when IDG's LinuxWorld comes to town. We had big smiles on our faces at the FSF office recently, when journalists called to ask for our reaction to the LinuxWorld announcement, that they were coming to Boston in part because it was the birthplace and headquarters of the Free Software Foundation---which launched the Open Source Movement?
Why? Why do we get this constant repackaging of what we stand for? And always from organizations who by now should know better. Heaven knows we've explained it often enough, haven't we? When was the last time you heard the advocates of Open Source being asked to make a reference to the fundamental ethical and political issues of Freedom in Software. Never, because Open Source plays to the media interests that require a sanitized version of what the real drivers were behind the birth of a GNU/Linux world.
It seems that some words are hard to say, and some would have us give in to their limiting Orwellian speak. Well tough, it's the Free Software Movement; listen up, because you're in Freedom's home town.
Boston famously has a red brick trail mapped out across its streets, called the Freedom Trail, linking many of the American Revolution's most historic sites. No doubt many visitors to Boston's LinuxWorld will walk this Freedom Trail at some point this week, and we invite them to pop in and say hello, thereby creating an unofficial stop on Freedom's Trail. This could also be a visitor's last chance to see what has been FSF's home for the past 10 years. We receive many visitors each month, cameras in hand, who want to see the reality behind the opening lines of the GPL:
It sounds to me like you're the tech who everyone calls because they present themself as having a clue, charges way too much for service, but then blames every stinking problem on the OS, saying "you have a virus, you should use linux."
You've got the wrong guy. I'm not a tech, and I don't charge. I'm trying to work on the campaign against software patents in Europe, but people around me are asking for help because their computer is slow and windows are popping up all the time. The worst thing is that sometimes they even buy a new computer because their old one is slow and I'm sure the real reason for the new one is to try run the new viruses fast enough so that the other applications also get some work done.
Windows PCs are plagued with viruses.
The office has converted to using Firefox, and OpenOffice is climbing up the side of the desk, but the operating system is still Windows and the viruses they picked up before moving to Firefox are still there.
The Anti-virus software is often disabled by a virus, and Internet Explorer can't be fully removed. It can't even be fully disable since it's needed by Windows Update. (Although Windows Update is blocked by viruses on half of the computer).
I'm seen as "the tech" because I fit the profile, but I'm actually more of a lobbyist, but I still get asked for tech support.
Before this case, the GPL was taken to court twice, and it was upheld twice. Something about MySQL in the USA, and another case in Germany.
One of the goals of the GPLv3 consultation process is to identify enforcement issues in all the legal regions of the world. Yet another win in court doesn't give us anything to fix, but it's good to know that Stallman's written a solid licence - GPLv3 should be GPLv2 but better.
I've made transcripts of previous events I've organised so that deaf users can benefit. Having a sign language interpreter would be great, but the budget is usually not there.
In Ireland, a "scamp" is like a rascal. Like when a child does something and almost gets away with it, and no one's made, they'd be called a little scamp.
Is it not so in other countries or are SCO just the stupidest company ever to last this long?
Inviting MS has two potential advantages. First, it can make the event more controversial which helps spread the news into the mass media, and second it can allow the event to be a non-partisan event which shows both sides.
To make either of these possible values happen, MS need to be addes near then start of the organising. You should make sure they fund the event too since it will be you gathering the best audience possible and then handing MS the microphone. Finally, put them on early or mid-day and make sure the closing speaker can rebut an sooth the FUD that was spewed.
For the FOSS Means Business event, it was suggested that we get Microsoft to take part and make a big controversial event (since Perens and Stallman would be the other keynoters).
We decided against because MS have it too easy. They don't have to prove their offering is better, they just have to raise enough FUD so that transitions to free software are delayed for one more year. Just like last year, and probably like next year. So we decided against, and instead of controversy we'll concentrate on showing the business value of free software, and why it is sustainable.
And don't forget the one on free software licences. I agree, Wikipedia is great.
Wikinews hasn't been the newspaper-killer that Wikipedia is to encyclopedias. ...but then again, people forget that Wikipedia started in 2001.
Becoming an overnight tech success takes years :-) I still love good 'ould text.