And the whole thing as a complete writeup :) == An attempt to make the Apache Software Foundation even more social ==
Soon after Google+ has been announced I figured that it was rushing through the various Apache Software Foundation (ASF) channels like a tsunami and everybody started to offer Google+ invitation some with the intend to have Apache-related hangouts on Google+ instead of having them on the already existing ASF-blessed communication channels. Below you'll find my personal opinion about Google+ and why it should NOT be used for Apache-related stuff such as community building which hangouts certainly are. As a remark, I'd like to add that there are people like me who simply refuse to get a Google+ account cause it's the Nth social network I would have to maintain (those who know me really know how thoroughly I tend to maintain my internet presence) and cause I don't want to give Google a 3rd chance to finally be successful with an attempt to get a share in the social network market. Additionally Google+ is another hog who accumulates you data, analyzes it and redistributes it and thus makes you depend on Google+ instead of heaving freedom over what really happens with your data. To get the idea behind that argument please refer to Eben Moglen's [0] vision speech on this subject [1]. Instead the ASF should provide it's own implementation of Eben Moglen's vision he had with the FreedomBox, ready-made to support the apache "blessed" communication channels and there should be a finical aid program for those not having free or easy access to the internet and especially to such hardware devices similar to the ApacheCon travel assistance program [2] that would allow people to get a hold of such a hardware device. If an Apache committer requests such a device it maybe could even be personalized with an Apache UID to get her started working as an Apache community member more easily. Additionally to be ready-made to support the official ASF communication channels the ASF FreedomBox could provide added value such as a distributed self-hosted social network, an IP phone capability and a mash-routing capability in support of those ASF peeps living in locations where it is difficult to get a reliable internet conection. Finally the ASF FreedomBox would unobtrusively augment the centrally deployed ASF infrastructure with the services it provides. Look we really could live without dinosaurs such as Google and the like if we all stand up and try to make a difference and I think I proofed that with my idea - i.e. the proof is that we are *NOT* like lemmings who need to follow each hype. What you might as well have noted is the fact that the aforementioned described idea is providing a self-contained ready-made solution and not another piece of software that without being configured and so on behaves like an electronic brick on your hard drive. Resources: [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eben_Moglen [1] http://www.internetevolution.com/video.asp?section_id=1361&doc_id=207273 [2] http://www.apache.org/travel/ [3] http://youtu.be/QOEMv0S8AcA - An Eben Moglen speech supposed to be the original inspiration for creating Diaspora On Sat, Jul 16, 2011 at 5:02 PM, dsh <[email protected]> wrote: > Bold and maybe crazy statement - The ASF should provide it's own > implementation of Eben Moglen's vision he had with the FreedomBox, > ready-made to support the apache "blessed" communication channels and > there should be a finical aid program for those not having free or > easy access to the internet and especially to such hardware devices > similar to the ApacheCon travel assistance program that would allow > people to get a hold of such a hardware device (maybe it could even be > personalized with an apache UID if a committer requests such a > device). Look we really could live without dinosaurs such as Google > and the like if we all stand up and try to make a difference and I > think I proofed that with my idea - i.e. the proof is that we are > *NOT* like lemmings who need to fallow each hype :D > > Cheers > Daniel > > On Sat, Jul 16, 2011 at 4:43 PM, dsh <[email protected]> wrote: >> I'd like to echo what Kevan just said (it kind of relates to the >> webinar thread started by Karan) and I'd like to add that there are >> people like me who simply refuse to get a Google+ account cause it's >> the Nth social network I would have to maintain (those who know me >> really know how thoroughly I tend to maintain my internet presence) >> and cause I don't want to give Google a 3rd chance to finally be >> successful with an attempt to get a share in the social network >> market. >> >> Cheers >> Daniel >> >> On Sat, Jul 16, 2011 at 2:12 PM, Kevan Miller <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> On Jul 14, 2011, at 8:54 PM, Karan Malhi wrote: >>> >>>> Mohammad, >>>> >>>> Thanks for initiating this. Seems like everybody has a g+ account >>>> already. Just to clarify, the hangout is for all contributors (current >>>> and prospective) (Its not a committer only stuff). >>> >>> I think you can safely assume that everyone does *not* have a google+ >>> account. Furthermore, I think you can also assume that not everyone *can* >>> have a google+ account (even if they wanted one). And then there's the >>> question of bandwidth for effective use of hangout. All something I'd >>> expect the community to keep in mind, as use of hangouts is evaluated. >>> >>> I would expect that *anyone* would be allowed to participate: pmc, >>> committer, contributor, or anyone who's just interested. >>> >>> --kevan >> >
