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Re: [Fsuk-manchester] Ubuntu 9.10 Release Party - 30th October


From: Lucy
Subject: Re: [Fsuk-manchester] Ubuntu 9.10 Release Party - 30th October
Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:25:26 +0100

+1

Thanks Pete :)

And yes, there will be cake again.

2009/10/19 Tony Arnold <address@hidden>:
> Pete,
>
> My sentiments exactly!
>
> Tony. (Excuse the top posting)
>
> Pete Morris wrote:
>> Let's be honest here guys, an Ubuntu launch party is more about cake
>> than about politics. It's a chance for a load of rather geeky people
>> to come together in a safe environment where they aren't likely to be
>> assaulted by the football fans in the pub. It's a chance to wear that
>> t-shirt you bought in good faith without feeling a total pillock. And
>> mostly it's about social networking.
>>
>> So with that said, lambasting such an event is a bit self-defeating,
>> as we need these kinds of events to provide some welcome
>> non-geekiness to the community. Whilst the event itself may not
>> involve life changing utopian epiphanies, nor achieve a direct change
>> of software licensing model, I for one prefer the taste of the cake
>> than whatever the illustrious leader Stallman finds on his foot...
>>
>> With free software there is a real danger of throwing the baby out
>> with the bathwater. Which is better, a system which is 1% free
>> software or a system which is 0% free software? Even though the other
>> 99% is fully closed and proprietary, the 1% is still a starting
>> point. We should be celebrating what has already been achieved rather
>> than pointing and booing at what has yet to be achieved. If, as Lucy
>> says, we are totally opposed to anything which doesn't reach some
>> perceived standard of perfection, then we might as well give up now
>> as I suspect we'll never actually achieve that standard. Aspire yes,
>> reach no. If in 15 years we still haven't got anything resembling a
>> workable production release of Hurd, I can't say I hold out much hope
>> for the immediate future.
>>
>> And as has also been mentioned, very few end users will be willing to
>> sacrifice functionality for theoretical philosophical freedom. What
>> use is a totally 'free' operating system if it doesn't actually boot
>> and you need to give a presentation in 15 minutes? It's not selling
>> out to use Ubuntu, it's about acknowledging that we aren't perfect
>> ourselves as a community, and sometimes need to get off our
>> high-horse and learn from those around us ... including proprietary
>> code. Then, when we've learned what we need to, we can go replicate
>> and introduce freedom to that market area again.
>>
>> So go to the launch party, eat some cake (which I might point out,
>> you won't have to pay for -- how's that for free!), and let's all
>> have a good time rather than sulking over pipe-dreams.
>>
>> Just my £0.02
>>
>> Pete
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________ Fsuk-manchester
>> mailing list address@hidden
>> http://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/fsuk-manchester
>
> --
> Tony Arnold,                        Tel: +44 (0) 161 275 6093
> Head of IT Security,                Fax: +44 (0) 870 136 1004
> University of Manchester,           Mob: +44 (0) 773 330 0039
> Manchester M13 9PL.                 Email: address@hidden
>
>
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