[Ambassadors] Fedora project

[Francesco Ugolini]

2008/7/23 Alejandro Acosta <aacosta at fedoraproject.org>:
> Hello Ambassador folks
>
> I've been invited to participate at a little event in my Hometown State
> University [1] this October , the main focus of the event would be free
> software and I'm supposed to speak about the Fedora project. along other
> participants including Richard Stallman !!!!. Personally I feel very honored
> to share the same forum with Mr Stallman and when people ask me I always
> answer that it is just as if you're learning to play piano and someone asks
> you to perform along Mozart.
>
> Anyway, I'm working on my presentation and looking through the ambassador's
> resources I found Rahul's very illustrative and filled with a lot of helpful
> information [2],  although it does not contain the most recent one. Can
> anyone help me find the updated numbers? Other useful information will be
> appreciated also.
>
> My second point its a little more complicated since it implies philosophical
> issues. Mr Stallman explains in his publications that it is not exact to use
> the word "linux" to refer to an OS or a particular distro since Linux is
> only the kernel and the rest of the OS is somehow derived from its original
> work  (bash, editor, compilers, etc). [3]  Question: Do we at Fedora share
> and honor this principle? Shall we refer to our and other distros as
> GNU/Linux as he suggests?
>
> Other thing that confuses me is that Stallman states that open source is a
> motto of a movement that was formed as a reaction against the free software
> movement.[4]  He even says that he refuses to participates in "open source"
> or "linux" events  but he's willing to participate in events denominated
> "Free Software  and Open Source? " or so as long as his speech is not the
> main focus of the event.
>
> I saw the words "open source" a lot along many Fedora presentations, but my
> doubts still remain. Do we have any policy regarding Open Source and/or Free
> Software?  It is going to be hard to me to debate about freedom against RMS
> so I would prefer only to talk about our project, but stating clearly what
> we stand for.
>
> It is not my intention to start an even bigger internal debate within our
> strong and happy community but it is to get some help in getting me clarify
> these question.
>
>
> Regards
>
> Alejandro Acosta
> Fedora Ambassador
> Chihuahua, Mexico
>
>
> PS The official name and dates of the event are not yet defined so this is
> why I have not posted it in the events wiki, I hope I'll receive
> confirmation within a few days
>
>
>
> [1] http://www.uach.mx
> [2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Image:Presentations_Fedora_overview.pdf
> [3] http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html
> [4] http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-for-freedom.html
>
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>
>


1. First of all this is a great news, both from a community
perspective and from a OS experience.

I want to congratulate with you and inviting you to ask if you need
help and support (like you have just done).

2. I think you haven't to take care of the definition issue, but focus
on Fedora vision of Open Source (see
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Marketing/TalkingPoints).

Some time giving a "tag" could be a way to take the distance from a
part of the community: Fedora, in that way, is a open view community.

+1 for all the other comments about this issue

3. Rahul give a detailed and precise answer about this topic.

Best regards

Francesco Ugolini