[GNUz] [Fwd: [SFD-TC] Tshirts, balloons and CDs - status update]

[Pia Waugh]

Hey Rik,

<quote who="Rik Tindall">

> Mutt! GeekCred+!! We'd better get you down here for a talk :)

Heh, anytime! I love New Zealand :)

> Definitely relevant in this case. Nick's enthusiasm is enough to keep us 
> trying to get this event together again. Seems like there's a fair bit 
> of resistance to the 'Free Softwaredom' theme. Is that globally? And the 
> forum is dead, compared to 2004/5. Are other teams struggling like ours?

Unfortunately the FSF has turned a few people off (understandably) and so
"Software Freedom" is not as broadly understood as it should be. I wrote
some blog posts about this that might be of interest. The general trend is
that western countries aren't as much into "Software freedom" as non-western
countries who in many cases get the underlying interesting bits :) I care
about software freedom not just because I'm a FOSS geek, but because I care
that the outcomes of technologies my life depends on are predictable and
reliable. A great example is e-voting, where I would hope the software would
be Open Source so we can check that some sneaky senator hasn't tweaked the
results. More on this on my blog :)

http://pipka.org/blog/

> My main plan for building a team core was to offer free Ts as a reward, 
> but now we've got to stump up for these as well as the advertising. SFD 
> may be getting harder to commit to. - .02c

We send 2 for free, but the event needs to be sustainable. To be honest I
plan on getting more sponsorship in future to ensure teams are better
supported for exactly your reasoning. It remains true that teams will always
have as good a time as they choose to have, regardless of the resources
available to them. My plan is to get United Nations recognition of the day
at some point :)

> Ok. It's time for a final approach to our local LUG. You'll see any 
> result via this list.

Coolies. Rock on New Zealand! :)

Cheers,
Pia

-- 
Linux Australia                                         http://linux.org.au/
 
   "The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet." - William
                                   Gibson