How to promote free software

Niall Douglas ned at nedprod.com
Sun Dec 1 18:54:46 UTC 2002


On 1 Dec 2002 at 18:27, Alessandro Rubini wrote:

> > Very simply, it should say:
> > 
> > Software Patents in Europe =
> > 1. Damage to the European Software Industry
> > 2. Damage to the European Economy
> > 3. Damage to European ability to compete internationally
> > 4. Damage to Europe's ability to innovate
> 
> Yes, I agree Free Software should stay out of the picture. The damage
> exists independently of Free Software.  Worse, talking of Free
> Software will reinforce someone's idea that we are a bunch of freaks
> that want to pirare intellectual property and oppose companies and
> innovation.

It's the "damned tree-hugging hippies" syndrome you get especially in 
the US. If they identify you with some non-regarded stereotype, all 
weight in your message will be lost even if it's of national 
importance.

> I'm convinced that the problems you list go much farther than Free
> Software development, and most companies I speak with agree with me.

Those that are aware. I recently wrote a series of articles against 
the European Copyright Directive for IT contractors in the UK and 
virtually none of them knew a thing about the problem. It's really 
one of ignorance.

Does the European parliament have something like 
http://www.faxyourmp.com/?

Cheers,
Niall




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