cool... Jamie ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 10:27:35 -0800 From: Toby Martin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: A call to action Great. Yet another attack by Microsoft. Toby ----------------------------------- forwarded ---------------------- >From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fri Feb 16 08:38:26 2001 Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 09:24:05 -0800 (PST) From: Franklin Hays <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [SATLUG] M$ Feels Threatened by Linux (fwd) from another LUG, pretty interesting for those following current discussions on /. or such. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 03:31:56 -0600 From: Walt DuBose <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [SATLUG] M$ Feels Threatened by Linux Friends, Let me take off my information technology hat and put on my mortarboard. I am formally trained as a political scientist and have been heavily involved in local and national politics since graduating from college. My national political involvement has been as a acquisition professional trying to influence congress to take necessary actions to protect the integrity of the federal government's acquisition process. First and foremost, what we have in this article, (http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-4833927.html) "Microsoft exec calls Linux a threat to innovation", is Microsoft (MS) FUD. Second, if I were in MS position, I would do exactly as they are doing... they are waiving the American Flag, talking of Mom and apple pie...we (Microsoft) are the good guys and Linux is the foreign devil. I KNOW FOR A FACT, that the government is torn between chunking Microsoft and going OpenSource and chunking Linux and going 100% MS. Its a BIG political fight. With a new President, who may not want to push the DoJ case against MS, and the economy down turn, MS is certainly pushing the right political and business buttons. The REAL scary thing is that right now MS could make their point and win. Some congressmen/women and a few senators are thinking right down the MS line...probably 25%. Another 25% will go with open source and 50% aren't smart enough to know the difference. Whichever 25% wins will take the unknowing 50% with them. I see GREAT E-Mails on technical subjects on this list all the time so I KNOW 99.9% of you are literate and independent thinkers. But the first thing that you MUST do now is to take out your Big Chief Tablet, open you box of Crayons and pen a letter to your congressman/woman and senators asking them to support the use of open source software in the federal government and the nation. We must make them understand that open source, such as Linux, will NOT "result will be the demise of both intellectual property rights and the incentive to spend on research and development" as Microsoft Windows operating-system chief Jim Allchin told lawmakers. By law, SATLUG CANNOT lobby, and neither can any other 501(C)(3) charted corporation as most LUGs are. Thus, the ONLY thing we can do is as individuals write our congressman/woman and senators. One only needs to look at the open source applications on the monthly "Maximum Linux Magazine" CD to know that this certainly isn't "stifling innovation" as Microsoft claims. We KNOW this but lawmakers don't and won't unless we, as individuals, let them know. I can assure you that if you take the time to write a letter (hand written is best but a computer generated letter is great too) to you congressman/woman and senators, (I'm talking about three different letters), your VOICE WILL be heard and I would expect that you would receive back, even though it might be some time in coming, as written response from the lawmakers you write. The second thing you/we must do is get this E-Mail forwarded to other LUGs. I am CCing a friend Corpus Christi in hopes that he will send this E-mail to the CCLUG mail list. If we can get 250,000 individuals to send letters to lawmakers, we will negate Microsoft's allegations and might very well get the federal government to move to requiring the federal government to use open source software in lieu of MS software. I will be writing Congressman Charles Gonzalez and Senators Gramm and Hutchison in the next few days. It is now up to you to contact you lawmakers. And much thanks goes to Don for bringing this to our attention. I want to make a special appeal to those who have advances academic degrees to write letters with formal signatures. The same applies to those of you in corporate IT management positions and educators. Your letters carry a little weight than the rest of us with some lawmakers. This isn't to put anyone down; but, it is a fact of life in the political arena. 76 votes put Lyndon B. Johnson in the U.S. Senate. I believe that 250,000 letters to lawmakers will but Tux in the drivers seat. Best Regards, Walt DuBose San Antonio, Texas [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Donald W. Wright" wrote: > > >From C|NET News.com: > > Microsoft exec calls Linux a threat to innovation > http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-4833927.html > > Definitely a novel argument. Wrong, but novel. Amusing how they try to lump > Linux with Napster as bad for "intellectual property." > > Those who are inclined to write (dead tree style) their congresscritters > have a new target. Perhaps mention that this country was founded on > open-source principles, instead of the closed-source edicts from the king > that our ancestors found so offensive. --Don > > ---------------------------------------------------- > San Antonio Linux User's Group (SATLUG) Mailing List > Unsubscribe: http://www.satlug.org/unsubscribe.html > Post to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Problems to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------------------------- San Antonio Linux User's Group (SATLUG) Mailing List Unsubscribe: http://www.satlug.org/unsubscribe.html Post to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Problems to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EUG-LUG:176] A call to action (fwd)
Jamie Chamoulos -- Internet.Now! Fri, 16 Feb 2001 23:54:54 -0800
