[Novalug] [Dclug] [FOSE] Starting the discussion

Rich Goodwin rich.goodwin@cox.net
Sat Oct 4 19:46:20 EDT 2008


Serge,

This is one of the discussion topics - what would be the "proper" name
to use?  While I appreciate the differences between Free Software,
FLOSS and Open Source, I do not believe those attending FOSE do, will or
even will care.  

That said, my intent was to start discussions about what message(s) we
wish to portray at FOSE.  I will interpret your speaking up to mean we
should/need to articulate these differences.  

If that is the case (and I will presume it to be so), then please,
provide some good words which artilucate this.  We will hopefully be
able to borrow the booth background again.  If the organizer(s) agree, I
submit it would  worthwhile to have a placard of sorts displaying this
so everyone has the same definition.  That, in my eyes, would be
valuable.

So, Wikipedia has some wordings that I am not sure work for everyone
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_and_open_source_software):

     Free and open source software, also F/OSS, FOSS, or FLOSS (for
     Free/Libre/Open Source Software) is software which is liberally
     licensed to grant the right of users to study, change, and
     improve its design through the availability of its source code.


As for the Linux/Windows/Mac/OpenBSD ... this is something we need to
nail down.  What should the message be from the booth?  I was pointing
out that past events included more than Linux - OpenBSD and others I
think participated.  A number of folks mentioned that we should be
including FLOSS for Windows.  Personally, I agree.  WINOSSCDROM
(http://www.winosscdrom.com/) is a great example.  I was in contact Rich
Houston for the NetCaucus for this very reason.  I will 

I hope we can come up with some targeted themes for FOSE.  I say this
because the people going to FOSE are looking for that.  Kevin Cole
pointed out we will be hard pressed to get things out in a sound bite.
Let's put out the topics/themes whatever you want to call them out
there.  Let's focus on what we want to get done.  I feel a bit like
Sarah Palin ... "There 'ya go again!"   (inserted merely to bring a bit
of humor to a serious discussion - it's the ADD in me!!)

Seriously - the focus is FOSE and the message(s) we want to get to the
visitors. It just hit me - having some sort of list of FLOSS
contributors would be great!  Recognition is there.  Illustrating the
size of the community development "team" is there.  'course it won't
work but maybe someone else can come up with a way to show it!!

Rich

On Sat, 2008-10-04 at 13:28 -0400, Serge Wroclawski wrote:
> On Sat, Oct 04, 2008 at 01:18:40PM -0400, Rich Goodwin wrote:
> > As I raised at today's NOVALUG meeting, I believe a discussion as to
> > what the message(s) should be at the FOSE booth would be beneficial
> > (assuming we get a booth again).
> > 
> > Some questions I heard bantered were (and this is not exhaustive by any
> > means):
> >  1.  Should this be a Linux or Open Source push? or both?  (OpenBSD
> >      participated in the past)
> 
> Rich,
> 
> After the last time you brought up an event, you said, in some way, that the discussion was healthy and that you thought the issue of 
> naming sensitivity, if not the naming itself, was important.
> 
> In response to my request that you give Free Software equal mention, I was flamed and slandered, nonetheless as one whose not persuaded 
> by bullies, I bring the issue up again:
> 
> Why do you not use the term Free Software, or at the very least, FLOSS, in giving both sides equal opportunity?
> 
> As for issues of OpenBSD, I would guess that doing so would depend on your objective, which you never explicitly state. Once you know 
> what it is you're trying to accomplish, I think these other issue fall into place.
> 
> If you only care about "Linux" as a viable option to Windows or the Mac, it seems counter-intuitive to bring up OpenBSD, which is a 
> competitor.
> 
> If you're interested in promoting the ideas of Free Software and the diversity of those ideas, OpenBSD becomes an interesting choice as 
> they take the issues of Free Software seriously but in ways which differ in implementation from that of the FSF (to the point where 
> they take harsher stances on things like firmware blobs than the FSF).
> 
> If you're interested in promoting the community (which is a fuzzy concept I've been spending some time thinking about lately) then you 
> might find it's better to bring in other groups entirely to come with you.
> 
> >  2.  Should we present solutions? or tools?
> >          - Can/should commercial products be considered in our message?
> >          - Should we push the back-end or the desktop?
> 
> Whose your audience (I know who goes to FOSE, whose YOUR audience).
> 
> - Serge
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              They run Windows don't they!!
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