I think I've inspired this topic with my comments on a Google+ conversation, but Mr Haris and many others have misunderstood me.
To be very clear, *I've never said that it is wrong to use Non-OSS*. No one has... Where did that idea even come from? The only person I've ever known to say that is RMS. In my opinion, it isn't wrong for any individual to use Non-OSS. That is a principle of the Free Software Foundation that I believe is too extreme. What I object to is any "Open Source" organization promoting or distributing Non-OSS. Part of our stated mission is to increase public interest in Open Source Software development and concepts. By promoting or distributing proprietary software, we undermine that goal. But I might have misunderstood OSDC and its mission. To me, Open Source Software represents an ideal which we must work towards, even though might never achieve it. Without the Open Source Software ideal, OSDC is still an excellent organization and platform for developers from all over Malaysia to communicate. However, without the Open Source Software ideal, I feel that OSDC is mis-named. More specific comments below ... On Sat, Jul 16, 2011 at 10:07 PM, Harisfazillah Jamel < [email protected]> wrote: > Team, > > Truly. Its up to my neck now, seeing comments, telling me to make sure > all to be in OSS even in conference, in my photos and things that I do > as OSS advocate. > > We are too into it and forget what the users think. From 301 people > attending the MOSC2011 conference, I truly can see only us, the team > in OSS community booth and a few more are using truly OS from OSS. > > Users' ideas don't compel us to provide restrictive commercial software. On the contrary, the ideas of the average user affords us an opportunity to provide a better alternative. In this case, we know that security and safety are major concerns for computer users. That gives us an opportunity to talk about those problems and how they can be solved with OSS. > and I felt wrong putting limits and condition to a sponsor. I'm the > one that want Free for Freedom in software putting limit to people > !!!. Feel so wrong doing it. That's sponsor a famous Malaysian Company > support us for 3 years because they want to see the growth in our ICT > industry. > You haven't avoided putting limitations on the sponsor, you've subjected yourself and others to their limitations. When a company provides financial support on the condition that you distribute their product, they're not sponsoring. They're marketing. Effectively, you're helping to take away users' freedom. Freedom in this context is defined by the Free Software Foundation and I won't even bother linking to it because I know we're already very familiar with it. > Issue related to anti-virus given to people sending their feed back > form. Its a courtesy from a company that's want to say they support > OSS Community. Yes they do sell proprietary software. The asset that > they can share to show their support other then their software. > They give out free copies of their proprietary software in the hopes of increasing their product awareness and expanding their customer base. Anyone who using the software will need to pay a yearly renewal fee in order to continue to get new virus definitions. This is a prime example of the "predatory vendor lock-in" that the Open Source Initiative describes in their mission statement<http://www.opensource.org/> . > In the field of security, any operating system subject to any attack. > Its all depend how big resource they want to spend to create the > trojan and what benefit they can get. > > Its not a promotion, its a sarcasm giving anti-virus to users in Open > Source Conference. What do the users think? > I don't know what users might think in this situation, but they're getting a clear idea of what "Open Source Software" is. Maybe some think it just means software that doesn't cost anything money. If they think that the software distributed by OSDC is an example, then they might think that "Open Source" just means they don't have to pay until later. > Infront of the feedback form counter we had a booth for OSS community > to promote much better and safer Operating System. :) > > Even the Linux CD are given freely to them. Lets them make a choice. > An extra cost to a already costly Ooperating system need to install > anti-virus or just use free and safer operating system. > > The Anti-virus CD macam goreng pisang panas. Showing how users think > about their current OS. Its all up to us the OSS community how to > promote and take advantage of it. > I don't get the reference to banana fritters (a "fritter" is an American word for any kind of kuih that is fried... I don't know what else to call them in English). Are you saying that the CD draws people to the booth? When we have a common problem (viruses and malware), and there is an OSS solution for that problem, how does giving out commercial software for it help OSDC to take advantage of computer security and safety concerns? It helps Panda Worldwide to increase their product awareness, customer base, and revenue, based on subscription renewals for their virus definition subscriptions. > If we keep on thinking negative of all the effort thats we keep on > going to get the interest of the usersto OSS, sampai bila-bila we will > stuck will small numbers of OSS users. > If we think we have to submit to the needs of commercial sponsors in order to improve and grow, that's negative thinking. OSS is a good thing for individuals, businesses, and the country. Most of the time, it's better than proprietary software. It's true... I can prove it. My 2 cents. > As many of you know, I'm American. Call me, "Orang Putih", "Mat Salleh" or just "Vince", but Malaysia is my home now. Although I've learned to speak Malay passably well, there are communication problems that have nothing to do with language. This conversation is an example. In this community we're exposed to the same information and the same market forces, but we take away different meanings. I'm sorry to have stirred up so much trouble. This is an issue I feel strongly about. In fact, I've devoted my career to promoting software that is free of abusive restrictions. The lesson I've learned from this mess is that no one here holds the same opinion about OSS. So, I promise not to use this list to discuss my ideas about open source any more. -- Vince Aggrippino a.k.a. Ghodmode http://www.ghodmode.com -- To unsubscribe from and detail about this group http://portal.mosc.my/osdc-my-mailing-list-information Malaysia Open Source Conference 2011 MOSC2011 http://blog.mosc.my/ and http://www.mosc.my/ Malaysia Open Source Conference 2012 MOSC2012 http://portal.mosc.my/
