Re: [Fsfe-france] Re: 01net Conference (December 20)

[Loic Dachary]

Bernhard Reiter writes:
 > It is a success that Fred is invited now.
 > He should address the problem if he decides to speak there.

        Definitely yes.

 > Unless the event is _clearly_ using foul practices,
 > most people will not understand if be boycott it,
 > even when there is a good reason to do so.

        I would not go as far as to say that they use foul practices.
I rather think they were badly influenced by the speakers involved and
it leads to a proprietary software conference that talks about Free
Software.

        I also would not suggest any kind of boycott. After all, we
were not invited therefore the boycott question was never raised. Also
I don't think we have the right to comdemn proprietary software
advocates that speak about Free Software. We should just make clear
that they are proprietary software advocates when they try to look
like Free Software advocates in disguise. Maybe we should ask to
organizers to change the title of the event so that it makes this less
ambiguous.

 > So me rule of thumb is that Fred should use the opportunity to 
 > even enlight more people about what the Free Software community
 > is really about and participate at the round table.
 > A lot of people have not heard enough about Free Software and the
 > motives behind it to really have an educated opinion. 
 > Each person knowing more about Free Software and the movement
 > after the round table will be a win for us.

        I agree with this. I'm concerned by the people who will believe
the speeches of other speakers, when we have no chance to voice the
Free Software view. Since Frédéric will only have the opportunity to
speak during 15 or 20 minutes (best estimations) he will not be in a 
position to address all the issues raised during the whole conference.
And if he does not, his presence at the round table will be interpreted
as an endorsement of the conference as a whole.

        I spent two hours thinking about this conference when
I first heard about it. The question was : what can we do to turn
this conference into a Free Software event ? It currently is a 
proprietary oriented event, how could we possibly change this ? 
I was completly desperate when I realized that there was no way
for us to change this at this point. The schedule, the speakers,
the advertisement were done, it is too late. 

        The only thing we can do is make sure people are aware that
the opinions expressed during this conference do not reflect the views
of the Free Software movement but the view of the proprietary software
advocates.

 > The other consideration is time.
 > If this happens too often it might take up our time needed for other
 > things. As I understood that table it important, so it might be
 > worth the time.

        It is clear we cannot let this conference occur without saying
anything about it. It is in many ways unique and a new way to divert
people from Free Software. 

        There are many Open Source conferences with a similar
proprietary flavor. To my knowledge this is the first Free Software
conference with the same proprietary flavor. Maybe it is a consequence
of the success we have to convince journalists and newspapers to use
Free Software instead of Open Source. But it's also a responsibility.
If the same event was titled Open Source it would not be our responsibility
to ensure the name is not abused. Since it is "Logiciel Libre" it becomes
the responsibility of every people valuing freedom to make sure the
Free Software word is not abused in this way.

        I hope I was able to share my thoughts on the subject. Be
assured that I'm *not* convinced that what I suggest is the right
solution. I'm convinced, however, that the situation is new and calls
for a new strategy in some way.

        Cheers,

-- 
Loic   Dachary         http://www.dachary.org/  address@hidden
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