I dislike Skype, which is proprietary software, so it is good to see a free software alternative. However, my natural enthusiasm for promoting OpenWengo is somewhat dampened by the fact that your web site is not very helpful to the free software movement and the GNU Project.
The front page of openwengo.com speaks primarily about "open source", not "free software". These two slogans stand for different ideas; we in the free software movement disagree with the basic values of "open source". Because so many people think we support and practice "open source", we in the free software movement face a handicap simply to present our ideas to the public. Every week people write to me about "open source" as if I supported it, and I have to explain that I don't. See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-for-freedom.html. The page mentions "free software" only in the phrase "free calls, free software"--and that phrase is just perfect for spreading confusion about what free software means. Since "free calls" means zero-price calls, the reader will think that "free software" means "zero-price software". We always tell say, "Think of 'free speech', not 'free beer'"; your page says the opposite. OpenWengo runs on the GNU system, but openwengo.com says it runs on "Windows and Linux". That is to say, it calls the GNU system "Linux". Unfortunately, most users of the GNU system think it is "Linux", and impedes our work tremendously. So would you please call the system "GNU/Linux"? All we ask is an equal share of the credit. See http://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html for more explanation. So we can help you, would you please help us? We can use our site to help promote OpenWengo; would you please your site to help promote GNU and the Free Software Movement too? A personal mesage to Richard: I know you speak French, and wish to extend this email as an open invitation to visit us in Paris. We would love to have you host a talk here, but I guess you are quite busy with the GPLv3 launch these days? It's not out of the question; sooner or later I will be in Paris again. However, because those two problems above are so harmful to my work that I have made a firm rule never to speak on the platform of an event or organization that calls the GNU system "Linux". And I have an almost equally firm rule not to join in activities that operate in the name of "open source". Freedom of speech means I can't tell other people what to say, but those are not the things that I want to say! If you choose to call the system GNU/Linux, and present the name and ideas of free software (at least equally with those of open source), then I could accept your kind invitation. _______________________________________________ Wengophone-devel mailing list [email protected] http://dev.openwengo.com/mailman/listinfo/wengophone-devel
