Raise-consciousness-howto (was Re: valinux goes propietary?)

[Giovanni Biscuolo]

Stefano Maffulli wrote:
> 
> On Monday 27 August 2001 18:03, MJ Ray wrote:
> > OSI has always been more focused on the technical benefits of "open
> > source" rather than freedom.  I wouldn't be at all surprised to see it
> > move even further to the pragmatic point of view, possibly rewriting
> > their Open Source Definition to include less freedom beyond being able
> > to review the source.
> 
> I know that, but too many IT managers have learned Open Source better than
> Free Software and they don't know the difference! Many see the 2 movements as
> the same stuff.

It should just take 10 minutes to read:
http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/free-software-for-freedom.html

> It's going to be hard to remove Open Source from people's minds.

In my personal experience it just took the time to remove "shareware"
and "freeware" from my interlocutor mind (it depends on the interlocutor
knowledge about computer scienze and smartness :-P). And when they call
me foudamentalist I just smile, and ask them: "What's wrong in being
firm about freedom?". (and yes: I am one of that old and boring guys who
believe that our decisions should be based upon our ideals... Am I no
pragmatic?).

[omissis]

> > There was a web page (and I seem to have lost the URL) which was
> > basically a quick guide to marketing and public relations for people
> > involved in the LUG movement.  It included such simple things as not
> > ranting and be careful to make the language used work for you rather
> > than the opposition (eg closed systems are "legacy").  With the
> > argument having both technical and social dimensions, I think some
> > basic social engineering advice is needed.  Sometimes we can be our
> > own worst enemies.  I know I am.
> 
> Fantastic, we need a document like that: we need to raise consciousness at
> many levels. 

Consciousness is a necessary condition on the path to enlightnenment.
;-)
A brand new document should be wellcome, but we have so many documents
right now that explains free software philosophy
(http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/).
Maybe the best thing we should do is to talk to as many people as
possible to try to explain our point of view (hoping we have well
understood and share Free Software philosophy, you know: "Sometimes we
can be our own worst enemies. I know I am.").
If they are willing to hear, there is a chanche for us to raise
consciousness.

It is not possible to have an effective "Raise consciousness HOWTO".

> We need a page to point to for journalists, IT professionals,
> users, developers/programmers and the like explaining our ideals to them.

We have http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/ and I think contributions are
wellcomed by FSF, even from "third party".
And remember:
"[...] if cynics ridicule freedom, ridicule community...if ``hard nosed
realists'' say that profit is the only ideal...just ignore them, and use
copyleft all the same."
(from http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/pragmatic.html)

[omissis] 

CiaoG.
-- 
Art and scienze are free and free is their teaching [IT Constitution,
art.33]
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