[diskussion] [Fwd: SV: Chinese visit]
Jeremiah Foster
jeremiah at jeremiahfoster.com
Sat Aug 29 21:11:52 CEST 2009
On Aug 29, 2009, at 20:46, Roger Sinel wrote:
> Jeramiah, It sounds like you have something more to say about our
> förening.
Please ignore my tone, it is not directed at anyone personally.
> Please elaborate.
>
> Regarding our memberships numbers they are quite good considering the
> size of the FOSS community in Sweden, and considering all the other
> options people have to get involved in FOSS communities.
Well, isn't the largest LUGG in the world next door to us in Denmark?
Where is the SE Linux meeting? Where are the seminars? Where are the
talks? Where are the hacker spaces?
>
> Or maybe your implying "no one" as to type of or skill level of our
> members. Your most welcome to clarify this comment Jeramiah. So that
> we
> understand exactly what you meant.
Certainly not. The technical level of Swedes is some of the highest in
the world, yet the nation as a whole is nearly Microsoft dependent. It
is not the technical level that is the problem, it is the information
level. We, and by we I mean you, need to erase the brainwashing that
has occurred from a certain American monopoly.
>
> Our priorities are clearly stated here, http://se.linux.org/om/stadgar
>
> Here is a rough translation
> 1, work to increase interest and knowledge regarding FOSS
> 2, increase social contact between and exchange experiences.
> 3, work to increase knowledge of FOSS amongst the non FOSS community
>
> People contacted us from KTH about this chinese visit, and we pass on
> the information to our members for any of them to take up the offer.
> In
> what way have we misplaced our priorities?
KTH has a responsibility too, but you guys have a greater one because
the whole purpose of the förengingen is to serve its members. Hosting
a Chinese delegation would only be a detriment to your members if you
did not explain the purpose of Free Software. The fundamentals of Free
Software are designed to bolster and encourage a free society, if you
have ever seen a Free Software Foundation Europe t-shirt you've see
the phrase "Free Software, Free Society". That those two things are
coupled together is the point.
GNU/Linux is an operating system that uses licenses that enshrine the
ideas of freedom (the four freedoms) in a legal document. This has
allowed Free Software to flourish even while it is being used by large
corporations who would steal the code that is under the GPL, like
Microsoft attempted to do recently with their kernel patches.
The simple fact is, if you do not inform the Chinese visiting
delegation about democracy, freedom of choice, the right to dissent,
and the rule of law then the whole construct upon which Free Software
is built ceases to function. In short, there is no point explaining
the technical details because they are out of context and are
unusable. What is the purpose of the GPL in a society that has no
notion of private property?
If you want to be "open source" about it and say "code is code, I
don't care about licenses or your freedoms" then you are still doing
your members a grave disservice. Free Software is most likely the only
way to develop software in today's marketplace. Distributed software
development teams need distributed tools and most importantly, they
need code to work on. That code is often proprietary. Big companies
know that they are going to lose code when they outsource jobs, so
they make it "open source" to kill the market for their competitors.
Did you think that IBM named Eclipse because it was a fun name? Or
because they wanted to Eclipse the Sun? Thus the point of "open
source" is to destroy the value of a specific market, like low-end
databases, and to allow distributed development in countries that have
weak copyright protection. No coincidence that countries that have
weak copyright protection also have weak judicial systems in general
and lack human rights. Yeah Russia, I'm looking at you.
Companies want to reduce labor costs, the Chinese are here, with the
help of KTH who sucks at the corporate tit, to take the jobs of
expensive software developers. Companies like Huawei, owned by the
Chinese military, have set up shop in Stockholm and would love to
train their employees so that they can compete with Ericsson. As you
show the Chinese around, think of the jobs that are disappearing to
places like China. Think of the over 25% youth unemployed in Sweden,
and wonder to yourself if you are doing the right thing.
> /Roger
>
>
> -----Ursprungligt meddelande-----
> Från: Jeremiah Foster <jeremiah at jeremiahfoster.com>
> Reply-to: Svenska Linuxföreningens diskussionslista
> <diskussion at lists.se.linux.org>
> Till: Svenska Linuxföreningens diskussionslista
> <diskussion at lists.se.linux.org>
> Ämne: Re: [diskussion] [Fwd: SV: Chinese visit]
> Datum: Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:35:48 +0200
>
> What about democracy, human rights, and freedom of worship?
>
> What good is all this technical knowledge if they criticize the
> government, get put in prison for political dissent, are murdered by
> the State and their organs sold to Westerners?
>
> Give me a break. Free Software and software engineering practices are
> worthless without real freedom - tell them to start there first.
>
> No wonder no one is part of this föreningen, you people have misplaced
> your priorities.
>
> Jeremiah
>
> On Aug 29, 2009, at 17:54, Anders Lindbäck wrote:
>
>> Någon som tror de kan hjälpa till och ge information om följande
>> en delegation från China är intresserade och fha ett möte med
>> Svenska Linuxföreningen och snacka om lite områden:
>>
>>
>> -------- Ursprungligt meddelande --------
>>
>> This delegation is not a trade delegation. Like you they are also
>> users
>> in China and they would like to take contact with user in Sweden to
>> exchange experiences. They are interested in the following. Do you
>> think
>> that you could give them some information about the following? They
>> are
>> coming during Oct to Dec. 2009.
>>
>> - Embedded Linux system development processes and the overall project
>> development methods;
>> - Linux operating system;
>> - embedded software engineering and technical norms;
>> - ARM embedded technology base;
>> - DSP applications training;
>> - standardization of knowledge;
>> - under the business model of outsourcing companies and management
>> organizations;
>> - Nordic embedded software market, such as the status quo and
>> development trend of the content area.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
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