[OT] Protest the Novell-Microsoft Agreement - Sign Bruce Perens petition

[Jacques B.]

> The fact that Linux, be it Fedora, Red Hat Enterprise, Debian or even
> SuSE is capable of providing both a rich server and desktop environment
> today is the result of the efforts of a great many number of people who
> ardently believe in the concept of Free Software that is free for use by
> users and not subjugated to corporate whim. If this issue isn't
> important to you or other users of Fedora then I would suppose that you
> have to ask yourself why you are using Linux and not Macintosh or
> Windows.

I am not suggesting it is not an important issue.  I am suggesting
that people should inform themselves before taking a stand on an
issue.  Personally I don't feel comfortable taking a stand on an issue
based on only one side of the discussion.  The other side is no doubt
out there.  But like I stated, I don't have the time to go read it.
Doesn't mean it's not an important issue.  But so is abortion, the
right to a fair trial, human rights, the war in Iraq, etc.  Because I
don't become an activist for human rights does not mean it's not
important and does not mean I should not be entitled to them because I
left the issue in more capable hands.  Likewise here just because I'm
not "taking up the cause" by investing the time I would require to
take an educated stand on this issue does not make it unimportant to
me, and should not preclude me from being a consumer of Linux and a
supporter in other ways.  You seem to suggest that you are either an
active, vocal supporter, or you should consider abandoning Linux in
favor of the other side.  In other words you are either with us or
against us, and must take that stand publicly.


> The goals of Free Software are clearly delineated at http://www.gnu.org/
> - Anyone using Linux and not familiar with the intentions of GNU or the
> Free Software Foundation really needs to work through this since having
> no informed position is simply not excusable.

Why must every consumer of Linux have an informed position on every
issue touching Linux, and furthermore have to actively defend each of
those aspects????  Is it expected that Linux is the center of
everybody's universe???  We do have other things in our life that
occupies our time and to which take on a more active roll in.  The
majority of Linux users appreciate the hard work gone into making it
what it is today, and the concept of open source.  But to suggest that
it is inexcusable for Linux consumers to have no informed position on
any issue relating to Linux is ludicrous, even if it's one such as
this one.  By your standards that petition should grow to tens of
thousands of signatures in no time seeing this is no doubt not only
circulating on FC listserv, but many other Linux listservs.

> I apologize for debating this since that was never my intent for the
> posting...I actually give people credit for being able to discern
> whether they want to sign or not sign a petition and can only wonder
> what your motivation is for staking a position that it might be a
> mistake for people to sign it.

My motivation is simple, to contribute to this important issue in some
small way by reminding people that if they are going to sign the
petition, they should be able to articulate why they did so and be
ready to defend their actions.  To sign without being able to do that
will leave that person looking like a fool if ever called to task on
their position on the issue.  And furthermore it diminishes the value
of the protest when it becomes obvious that many people who signed are
really uninformed or ill informed.

Not looking to debate this either.  I was just contributing to the
discussion by passing on my 2 cents on the question of whether one
should sign the petition or not.  Especially seeing that others had
already raised points concerning involvement by the time I jumped in
on the discussion - one signed after your rebuttle, another said he'd
vote with his wallet, not signature - so the discussion was already
leading down that road when I jumped in.

Jacques B.