On 8/9/14 10:42 AM, Bill Kielhorn wrote: > Lucky for Michael, he now has a variety of opinions > concerning AK-47 talks.
Every announcement includes: Why: The pursuit of technology freedom Having overseen the first and only construction of the OGD1 ( Open Graphics Device http://linuxfund.org/projects/ogd1/ ) back when OpenMoko was exciting and long before Raspberry Pi's and countless new "open" devices, I will assert that I know something about "open hardware" and its challenges from both a technical and licensing perspective. The "maker" community has been brought up and yes, they have a very natural sense of "sharing" their work but your average participant is not aware that the software freedom crowd has spent decades refining the licenses they apply to their shared work. See: opensource.org (and recall the shirt I handed out). That said, the fact that the design of the AK-47 is de facto in the public domain and that its resulting objects are statistically significant, it is safe to say that the AK-47 just may be the most successful open hardware project human history and we had one of the most-researched authorities to talk about it (considering that they know more about BATFE rules than the majority of state-level law enforcement). In addition to this, the speaker is an Intel Linux Distro (YOCTO) release engineer, PLUG speaker (AT meeting on YOCTO) and recent OSCON keynote speaker. As this talk was well-received at OpenSourceBridge, one of the most politically-correct events in the open source community, I stand firmly behind this talk and its speaker. I have received much positive feedback and, with the speaker's impending travel plans, this was probably the one time we could have this speaker and talk, just as we needed a milestone to draw Linus Torvalds. At best, a minority of attendees have missed key points of the talk. As a free-of-charge event run by volunteers, a dissatisfied PLUG attendees must simply walk out and reconsider their future attendance of PLUG events. The past talks listed at pdxlinux.org will demonstrate that the Portland Linux/Unix Group is not, by any measurements a "buncha gun nuts" or fans of any particular on-topic or off-topic technology freedom subject or project. As for the "Linux" focus, PLUG meets or exceeds the world expectation of having a monthly hands-on clinic/install fest and LINUS TORVALDS as a speaker. At worse, because our speaker was a non-white-male, I fear that this fact could draw criticism by proxy of either the speaker or myself as an organizer. On that point: Sexism and homophobia will not be tolerated in any PLUG-related activity and all members are expected to call attention to what they feel are intentional or unintentional violations of this common sense and common courtesy rule. *I* have unintentionally broken this rule when I asked if a woman at an AT meeting had come with someone. For this I am sorry and I hope my good intentions were communicated at the meeting and that she will continue to participate in PLUG and ultimately give a talk. Michael Dexter PLUG Volunteer _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
