On Tue, 2010-06-08 at 17:06 -0400, Danny Piccirillo wrote: > Please pass this on to discuss with your loco teams. > http://blog.thesilentnumber.me/2010/06/why-ubuntu-locos-should-move-to.html > >
Wow. I think I've read the entire thread; some excellent replies have been posted. I have to chip in and say I just don't get it. I started using GNU/Linux because it worked on an old computer that was a freebie. I've never gotten into the whole "it must be free/libre, open source" or it's evil thing. If Windows 95 had installed and run on that old PC I may never have found linux. Does it work? For me that is it. I learned of Ubuntu at a meeting of my local linux user group. I learned that [email protected] email addresses weren't canonical employees about a year and a half ago. Three years or so of using Ubuntu for daily use I learn about this membership thing. In what small way I participate in the Ubuntu NC LoCo, PLUG, GCLUG and McDLUG I hope to give a little back. Maybe it's just old age on my part but I find it difficult to be dogmatic on anything except pouring grease down the kitchen sink drain. -mark > In the debate over whether it is worth supporting projects like Ubuntu > which are not purely free software, my opinion thus far remains that > Ubuntu does help further the free software movement. Arguments against > this are welcome, but that is a discussion for a future post. The > reason that Ubuntu's local community teams should move to LibrePlanet > is because having one of the worlds strongest FLOSS advocacy networks > centered around one piece of software and sponsored by one company is > a disservice to the greater free software community. > > I have been heavily involved in Ubuntu advocacy for years, but for a > while now, i've been considering the prospect of local teams operating > independent of Canonical. This would not be a move to abandon Ubuntu, > but simply to open up more possibilities and reach our full potential. > Most people in LoCos are not loyal to Ubuntu, but to free software > (aka open source). We are united by a set of ideals and work together > to promote software which helps further these ideals. Why then, must > all of our advocacy revolve around one GNU+Linux distribution? There > are two main reasons for why it currently does. > > Firstly, because Ubuntu is seen by most people as the best way to > introduce new people to a (mostly) free desktop environment. It is > certainly much easier to simply promote one operating system than a > family of them. Still, this is no reason to limit ourselves. A team > not entirely exclusive to Ubuntu can just as easily choose to promote > Ubuntu exclusively for events aimed at the general public. Ubuntu may > be the best now, but if something better came along or if Ubuntu went > downhill, we should be able and ready to adapt. Being an Ubuntu LoCo > does not provide this flexibility. > > Secondly, because the infrastructure is there. Canonical provides a > wiki and mailing lists to their teams and in exchange, the teams work > for them, albeit loosely, as part of the Ubuntu LoCo project, under > its name and banner. Canonical also provides printed install discs to > officially approved teams, but there is no reason why Canonical should > not provide sponsorship to any team of people who will be promoting > Ubuntu. It's mutually beneficial. In the meantime, to continue > receiving materials only provided to officially approved teams, LoCo's > can continue to operate alongside LibrePlanet groups. This isn't all > to say that Canincal has been working to actively lock teams in, but > this is the effect it now has. Creating the LoCo project, providing > the structure needed to establish global network of local advocacy > teams, was a great service, but the time has come to grow beyond its > current scope. > > LibrePlanet is inspired by Ubuntu's LoCo Project, but it's instead > organized around ideals, not any particular piece of software. Surely > there are some who only care about what tools work best, but let's not > forget the ideals which made these better tools possible. Most of us > imagine a world where these ideals are universal and see an incredible > amount of potential in that. LibrePlanet isn't yet another social > group for GNU+Linux users, but a team of activists. These groups are > more open to users of any free software who may be interested in > advocacy. Sponsorship could come from Canonical, Mozilla, or whoever. > Isn't this much more in line with the nature of FLOSS? > > Being a LoCo does in many ways lock you in to promoting Ubuntu. You > may promote other software and welcome users of other distros, but by > their very title, LoCo teams exist for Ubuntu. The very reason i began > taking this idea seriously is because some non-Ubuntu users wanted to > get involved with an event organized by my local community team, but > did not want to work under an Ubuntu banner (literally). I don't blame > them. I went on to discover many people who lurk on our mailing list > and even IRC channel simply hadn't gotten involved because they were > put off by the exclusive nature of the group even though they do > happen to use Ubuntu themselves. There is an incredible network of > people out there who want to help, and we shouldn't box them out. > > Many people have some badly tainted perceptions of the FSF, but being > a LibrePlanet team does not require strict adherence to FSF > rules. Teams could work on would be creating a voice for free software > that doesn't have the (in my opinion mostly wrong) reputation of the > FSF to be too extreme, and this is coming from someone who often > doesn't agree with their approach. To provide an example and get the > ball rolling, i'd like to announce the LibrePlanet Massachusetts Team. > > Mailing > list: http://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-us-ma > IRC: #libreplanet-us-ma on FreeNode > > The LibrePlanet Massachusetts Team is a group of volunteers > and activists organized around furthering the ideals of free > software and related issues concerning digital rights and free > culture. > > This group is working towards a free society through free > software, but we are not a local Free Software Foundation > team. We share the same end goals as the FSF, but some of us > may find it necessary and more effective to make some > temporary compromises with proprietary software in order to > better spread free software. Some of us may not necessarily > say GNU+Linux or always say "free software" instead of "open > source", and some of us may use pragmatic benefits to advocate > free software with the understanding that freedom is the > underlying concern and principle which makes it all possible. > We are open to people of all levels of interest in free > software and welcome new participants. We are all united in > the fight for software freedom as an important and necessary > means for the prospect of a free society. > > > You can start your own LibrePlanet chapter > here: http://groups.fsf.org/wiki/Form:Group > > -- > .danny > > ☮♥Ⓐ - http://www.google.com/profiles/danny.piccirillo > Every (in)decision matters. > -- loco-contacts mailing list [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/loco-contacts
