[okfn-discuss] Sysadmin sessions on IRC + skype

Tue Jul 19 20:29:33 UTC 2011

I guess I should have placed emphasis on my opposition to my original point:

Gmail is a non-open source tool that everyone uses because it is
convenient and works reliably. There are lots of great tools which are
open source, which I use daily (python, gdb and gcc being obvious
ones). The point is I don't care if they are open source or not as
long as they help me get my personal open source work done without too
much delay.

It's like telling a programmer to use emacs or vi rather than the
Textmate they are used to, just because it's closed source.

Open source is great because you can read the code yourself and fix
the bugs and contribute to a community. However, some services such as
email and voice over ip require money to pay for servers and this why
google/microsoft/whoever have to find ways of making income to
subsidise these servers. Even Richard Stallman depends on DNS and SMTP
servers to be funded for his communications to reach this mailing
list.

I think this argument is dogma over pragmatism.

Sorry for getting ideological!

Cheers,
Donovan.

On 19 July 2011 21:17, Daniel Dietrich <daniel.dietrich at okfn.org> wrote:
>
>> "If a tools fits use it"
>
>
> Yes please! I fully support William's initiative to move away from Skype! I also think more generally the OKF should try to move away from non-open software and services. Exactly because of the importance of the issue, lets try to not make this an ideological debate.
>
> Lets try find solutions suitable for our needs. This might mean a "step by step" approach. BBB is a nice bridge for those who don't want to configure their own SIP client themselves.
>
> Daniel
>
>
> On 19.07.2011, at 22:00, Donovan Hide wrote:
>
>> And to think you replied with a gmail address while Google advertised
>> to you and recorded your clicks to make better search results. I quote
>> a quote:
>>
>> "The concept of using web-based programs like Google's Gmail is "worse
>> than stupidity", according to a leading advocate of free software."
>>
>> http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/sep/29/cloud.computing.richard.stallman
>>
>> Not all of us know how to configure emacs for email...
>>
>> If a tools fits use it.
>>
>> On 19 July 2011 20:54, Chad Nelson <chadbnelson at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Big Blue Button require Flash? How open
>>> is Flash?
>>> From the Wikipedia entry on Flash:
>>>
>>> "Representing the free software movement, Richard Stallman stated in a
>>> speech on October 2004 that:
>>>
>>> The use of Flash in websites is a major problem for our community."
>>>
>>> Cavalry, dismount high horses.
>>> chad
>>>
>>> On Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at 5:05 PM, Matthew Brett <matthew.brett at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at 4:17 PM, William Waites <ww at styx.org> wrote:
>>>>> Forwarding since okfn-discuss silently eats messages from
>>>>> non-subscribers
>>>>>
>>>>> ----- Forwarded message from Richard Stallman <rms at gnu.org> -----
>>>>>
>>>>> Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2011 09:33:34 -0400
>>>>> From: Richard Stallman <rms at gnu.org>
>>>>> Subject: Re: Sysadmin sessions on IRC + skype
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>    Helping Skype/Microsoft collect data and encouraging proprietary
>>>>>    software seems like a very strange activity for the Open Knowledge
>>>>>    Foundation. I cannot help but be extremely disappointed.
>>>>>
>>>>> Data collected by Microsoft, and perhaps handed over to Big Brother,
>>>>> is not open data.  It is not what OKFn should promote.
>>>>
>>>> It does seem reasonable to give a large benefit of the doubt to the
>>>> open alternatives.
>>>>
>>>> Are they really so far inferior in quality or usability?
>>>>
>>>> I know each individual choice of closed source can seem minor, but
>>>> they can have a cumulative demoralizing effect.  Disappointment is not
>>>> a productive state...
>>>>
>>>> See y'all,
>>>>
>>>> Matthew
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss
>>>
>>>
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