[GNUz] [Fwd: Re: Sounding out the politicians]

[Richard Tindall]

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Just for the record, this is 1/2 of what NZOSS have deemed unpublishable 
from me.

Item #2 to follow.

- Rik

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Message-ID: <429C2F53.5090102@infohelp.co.nz>
Date: Tue, 31 May 2005 21:33:07 +1200
From: Richard Tindall <ask@infohelp.co.nz>
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To:  linux-users@it.canterbury.ac.nz, 
 NZOSS OpenChat <openchat@nzoss.org.nz>
Subject: Re: Sounding out the politicians
References: <428C0A16.80308@canterbury.ac.nz> <429B9DBF.2070500@canterbury.ac.nz>
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Thanks Zane, for keeping us in Ch-ch posted about NZOSS matters.

Zane Gilmore wrote:

> Ooops,
> I should have said a few days ago.
> Because of politicians cancelling, this has been cancelled.
> :-(
>
> Zane Gilmore wrote:
>
>> On 1st June in Wellington there is going to be an event where 
>> politicians from the parliamentary parties will outline their stand 
>> on the patent system.
>

There are two lessons in this, both pointing in the same direction.

1) Cap-doffing to the politicians is instinctive, going back millennia. 
They want us to see them as system administrators to whom appeal, 
supplication and deference are the norm (like a peasants' pilgrimage to 
Wenceslas) - 'the new rulers', rather than the public's servants. 
Politicians can instinctively ignore us, like they do all minorities who 
get swept aside by the 'majority' machine of state. There is a language 
they will respond to, however - the voice of the electorate, that grants 
their paycheck. Getting a hearing from politicians works more like this: 
generate enough grass/flax-roots demand for policy, and they have to 
listen (oink). [Please don't be offended by my cynicism.] So the 
priority is to get a publicity momentum up preceding the election - to 
_make_ FOSS an election issue. This means interfacing with the public 
(and not the politicians, yet).

2) Market/search competition could knock FOSS off the desktop, under 
attrition and atrophy. M$ has the war-chest to crush *nix through the 
patent courts - at least this looks like their plan. Remedy? Same as 
above. Start culturing a public stake in FOSS - however necessary - 
starting tomorrow, beyond geekland. Why? When it comes to the crunch, a 
solid user base built around the outstanding FOSS community principles 
would help fund the legal battle more adequately than business alliance 
alone. And this is a type of loyalty that M$ can never have, or beat. 
Good as "Windows" is for enabling and unleashing human creativity, it is 
not the best. It is hindered by market dictates and monopoly tactics. 
And Goliath fell.

I believe we need to start organising a national FOSS-fest, for a 
Saturday-Sunday one month before the Elections. Anyone know the date?

Arohanui, Rikihana.

-- 
Richard Tindall, InfoHelp Services <http://www.infohelp.co.nz>, on:
Ubuntu GNU/Linux 5.04 free OS, 2.6.10-5-k7 kernel, GNOME 2.10.0 desktop
OpenOffice.org 1.1.3, Mozilla 1.7.6 email client & web browser + Firefox
GIMP 2.2.2 graphics, gedit 2.10.2 web editor, gFTP 2.0.18 file transfer




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