[discuss] irrelevancy

[Phil Newcombe]

Russell McOrmond wrote:

>On Mon, 19 Jan 2004, Rod Giffin wrote:
>
>  
>
>>Where is the hotbed of Linux community discussion in Canada? 
>>    
>>
>
>  
>
Pertaining to the much more informed stuff below:  for my bleak 
viewpoint I always keep in mind that the US government takes it's orders 
from the richest people in the country - i.e. Bill Gates.

There seems to be a lot of movement going on in Europe but that software 
patent thing with the EU looks scary.

>  This message made my day -- even if it was  a week and a day later.   
>Maybe there isn't as many conversations about "Linux" because it is no 
>longer novel and is pretty mainstream, but there is a lot of talk about 
>"Free/Libre and Open Source Software", the generalization of that 
>outside of just software to "commons-based peer production", and all the 
>economic, social, political and technical ramifications of this change.
>
>  I say it made my day as I simply can't keep up with all the email 
>messages on "related topics" I get every day, assuming you consider my 
>GOSLING (Getting Open Source Logic INto Governments) work to be related.
>
>  The lists we point to from the GOSLING website are almost all quite 
>busy:  http://www.goslingcommunity.org/forum.shtml
>
>  CanOpener and digital-copyright.ca are both very busy with a lot of both 
>conversations and followup actions.
>
> The OpenOffice.ca discuss-gov conference is dead, but that is likely
>because most of this conversation is happening in other GOSLING and
>OpenOffice.org lists.  I do hope to see a major rollout somewhere in
>.GC.CA this year of OOo on Microsoft Windows.
>
>  
>
>>Or has Linux sunk into irrelevancy, or succumbed to a corporate agenda
>>that we're all completely satisfied with?
>>    
>>
>
>  That sounds like a troll ;-)  Looking at later message subject lines I 
>think it worked.
>
>  I'll have to admit that I'm quite happy with all the sectors (public,
>private, volunteer, educational, etc) joining into our movement in
>increasing numbers every day.  This is a great thing, and I look forward
>to watching this continue.
>
>
>
>  What I do worry about is certain players who "claim" to have joined us
>when this is not in fact the case.
>
>  I am thinking of private sector companies like SCO and IBM which
>have/are receiving benefits from our FLOSS economy, and yet threaten it
>with infringement claims (Copyright by SCO) or lobbying for expansion of
>exclusive rights incompatible with FLOSS (IBM, with information processes
>finally getting some visibility).
>
>  I am thinking of governments like the USA which have many departments
>even creating FLOSS while the USPTO/USTR attack FLOSS in what seems like a
>core part of their foreign policy (Note: Canada isn't much better, but is
>much less noisy about its opposition to FLOSS in foreign policy).
>
>  I am thinking of educational institutions like the University of
>California who receive public funding from US taxpayers and was at the
>heart of BSD UNIX, and yet is at the root of anti-Internet patent
>infringement cases like the Eolas patent case
><http://www.ucop.edu/news/archives/2003/aug11art1.htm>.
>
>
>  I really don't see there being a "corporate agenda" modifying FLOSS, but
>FLOSS modifying corporate and government agendas.  There are a few bad
>apples in a few of the bunches, but that doesn't suggest that the majority
>of any are rotten.
>
>---
> Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/> 
> Governance software that controls ICT, automates government policy, or
> electronically counts votes, shouldn't be bought any more than 
> politicians should be bought.  -- http://www.flora.ca/russell/
>
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>
>  
>


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