Hello Jeongkyu, I understand your frustration but you also have to know that it makes people nervous to deal with NK. I knew about this NK developper a while ago but I was willing to shut up because disclosing his existence could have risen up issues inside community. Now it's the case and we have to come up with the most acceptable solution no matter how hard it is.
First, OOo is not bound by US law. In fact, one wonders what law is applicable to us since we have no legal existence as a united body (sigh, sigh). But the fact that Collabnet and Sun take part in the process make the things more difficult since they're based in the US. It is also true that you as a SK citizen cannot really communicate with NK. In fact, I think that I, as a french citizen would have the same limitations as any US citizen or corporation would have regarding NK. NK makes a lot of people nervous, once again. Second, I believe that one of the traditions of free and open source software is usually not to take any part in politics; not because it considers all opinions or politics equal (far from that), but because it considers that it would be a slippery road: if you prohibit somebody to use, modify, or distribute for some reason, (say a pornographic software), then someday what a group of people judge pornographic may not match your definition. Other example can be found for nuclear weapons: if we provide software to the US, Russian, French, UK governments, does it mean we support nuclear weapons? Does it mean there aren't any pros and cons of nuclear armament? Usually, these questions are left out at the door of our mailing lists and IRC channels. It's a difficult position, but it's a good position. In this context, Jeongkyu, understand that I don't mean to offend you or IlYong. I just wonder (as some do here) ) what are his reasons to contribute to OOo. Maybe he's a very nice guy. Maybe he's being paid by the NK government to implement OOo. Maybe he's part of the NK army. Who knows? Even more difficult, you can't really ask him this question, and the NK-SK problem is a tragedy; one of its consequences is the separation of one nation, dividing people and families for a very long time. This is indeed a difficult topic. But as you can see it's a topic that raises more questions than the most likely solution to it would answer. I agree though that a legal explanation from Sun/Collabnet would help all of us here pick the best solution, but given Sun's legal structures I feel it won't come over to us before a long time. I have come to think to another very frustrating solution but it would be still a bit better than the first one (separate hosting): name one of the KO native-lang project contributor/developper as the one who will upload the patches of IlYong. It will solve all the problems since it will be submitted by a SK citizen that could, in theory use the NL locale for his own pleasure and family use (like if he was nostalgic of living in Pyongyang). Since this would be very unfair to the NK developper, you put a notice on the KO native-lang site that would say: "all patches submitted by .... (fill with the name of the SK contributor here) have been contributed by (name of the NK developper) here for convenience and in the hope that, one day, the SK and NK people and developpers will join hands in peace and mutual respect." What do you think? Best, Charles. > charles-h.schulz wrote: > Hello Charles and others, > > I want to clearly state here that I do not blame Sun (or any employees > working for Sun). I have been working for one of US companies, so I > fully understand how critical such a legal issue is to them. Also, I am > not talking for NK localization team. I have not been involved in it at > all (As a citizen of Republic of Korea, it might be illegal to be > without permission from government). > > However, as one of volunteers, I want OpenOffice project to make one > thing clear - Is this project bound to U.S. law? It seems to be due to > practical reason, right? Then, let's state it in main webpage or at > least NL webpage so that there is no more confusion. Also, I believe > OpenOffice project should give an apology to IlYong. When he started his > working through L10n mailing list, nobody mentioned about it and even > his patches had been accepted. If my patch or contribution was turned > down not by technical reason but by political reason, it might be enough > to make me upset. > > By suggesting formal explanation from Sun (in my previous mail), I > wanted to figure out what is exact problem. The comment in IZ only says > that employee working for Sun is not allowed to assist in the > development of North Korean version. Is that all? Did everyone know > OpenOffice.org source code is hosted by Sun? I knew that Sun is major > player but I did not know Collab is US based company so North Korean can > not have their NL project. Let's clarify those issues. Again, this is my > personal suggestion _as one of volunteers_. > > I thought OpenOffice.org is for everyone. I feel sorry that it is not. > > Regards, > Jeongkyu > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Acc�dez au courrier �lectronique de La Poste : www.laposte.net ; 3615 LAPOSTENET (0,34�/mn) ; t�l : 08 92 68 13 50 (0,34�/mn) --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
