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On 06/09/13 23:42, bad apple wrote:
On 06/09/13 23:10, Tom Brough wrote:Sorry this pent up feeling needs airing Advocate or Abdicate ... The choice is yours .... I have no remorse ... if you have a guilty conscious after reading this so be it.... do something about it...Umm... ok. *steps away quietly* Wow, didn't realise I'd accidentally subscribed to some fundamentalist movement here, just because I use Linux. With compulsory attendance at gatherings with my 'comrades'. As for spreading the love via Facebook or Twitter, you are kidding me right? I think half of the people on this list would rather cut themselves off from the internet than go anywhere near that. Anyway, as a current package maintainer I'm already doing my bit so I get a get-out-of-jail-free card here as far as I'm concerned. Last thing I want to is to end up stuck in a sports hall somewhere with a bunch of raging freetards telling me why I'm not allowed to use Evil Proprietary Baby Murdering Filthy Capitalist Software That I Paid For if I want to, like it's got anything to do with them. So, yeah, good luck with that. At least you feel strongly about it I guess - but beware putting people off by coming across as a bit... let's just say, "zealous". Regards
Oh dear I was half expecting this reaction...You cut practically everything out of my original message apart from the first and last line... thus loosing the entire context.
I am very pleased that you are a package maintainer, its something I looked into doing myself and never got around to so you are a better man than me... thank you for your contribution.
If you read my email carefully you might notice that I gave a sliding list (in terms of amount of commitment) of actions people could take to support Software Freedom Day. I would be great if everybody could turn up ... but I understand that we all have other commitments from time to time.
Just want to make it absolutely clear once and for all that nobody is going to wake up in the middle of the night with a dead horses head in their bed because they didn't attend SFD (at least it wont have been sent by me).
To explain my final remark:If you want Linux to remain an obscure little curious oddity only used by geeks (at least in the eyes of the general public) then continue to do nothing to support SFD hence the Advocate or Abdicate comment at the bottom. I hope you would agree that without the encouraging (Advocate) the next generation there will be no more Free Software (effectively Abdication).
Yes the comment may have come over too strong but its in the context that it was sent to "stimulate" the group into action as fellow supporters and users of Free Software.
A few of us are trying to keep the blood circulating in the Free Software movement, its not about being zealous its about the practical requirements necessary to pass the baton on to a new thriving and enthusiastic generation of free software users. Im getting older and an infusion of enthusiasm be it my own or someone else's would do me the world of good (and not just me I think).
I'm asking people who already appreciate free software to (at the very minimum) go out and inform the public that there is an event they can got to learn more about how they can liberate themselves from proprietary software (if they so choose).
I have my own perception of the DCGLUG community (right or wrong) in that if I asked the following questions I would get the attributed answers....
Are we frightened by the success of free software? .... I would hope not Do we think it makes a difference to our daily lives? .... I would hope so Do we want to keep using it? ... Yes PleaseDo we want to let the world know how important it is to us (and potentially to them as well) ? ... Maybe Tomorrow...
Please feel free to prove me wrong on the last one.I'm not zealous Im just asking people to search their soles and answer the question "could I do a little bit more to support this?". If the answer is genuinely no ... ok no problem. However I am also hoping the answer would be yes.
I dont think I was quite prepared for over zealous fundamentalist reaction... although thinking about it I have half a mind to treat that as a compliment.
By the way I don't think I mentioned Capitalism, Evil, Proprietary Software or baby killing in my original email ... unfortunately as you cut most of it out ... everyone will have to go back to the original to confirm that.
If you care to read the SFD guidelines you will find it expressly mentions that negative remarks towards other software models is not helpful or desirable as it damages the general public's view of Free Software and its advocates and so is in nobody's interest.
I am sure there are those out there that still bash proprietary software, I certainly don't want them to attend ANY SFD event.
But it is of the deepest concern to me if someone who clearly contributes to the movement thinks that every SFD event is about bashing proprietary software, rather than promoting Software Freedom, we clearly have a need to re-evaluate our marketing and education strategy .... I would like to here your proposals, comments and strategies for meeting that target....
What I did say IIRC is could you please support Free Software by doing something for Software Freedom Day (actions listed in the original email that rather unfortunately got heavily edited). Admittedly the aim was to offer practical actions in a challenging manor.
And Finally ....If you really want to know what I feel strongly about its people who use free software and then go and completely miss represent what I said because they feel a little guilty or they have some preconception of me as some communist proprietary software hater... It really doesn't fit in with the profile of an Oracle DBA and Oracle Virtual Machine Management Infrastructure Administrator (two of many hats).
However If you want to know what i am really like come to the SFD event....Sorry it took so long to get a single reply out ... I had trouble "balancing" my reply.
Regards Tom. -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq