[GNUz] [Fwd: Re: Free Software GNUru visits Christchurch]

[Rik Tindall]

As per Richard's request, corrections as below.

To GNUz list, CC RMS.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Re: Free Software GNUru visits Christchurch
Date: 	Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:38:42 -0400
From: 	Richard M. Stallman <rms at gnu.org>
Reply-To: 	rms at gnu.org
To: 	Rik Tindall <ask at infohelp.co.nz>
References: 	<489DF3EE.2000808 at infohelp.co.nz>


I know you were trying to be helpful, but your announcement
had three really damaging mistakes.

One as the reference to "intellectual property":

   sharing principle (beyond 'intellectual property') without which 

which sounds as if the term referred to something coherent.  That
statement endorses a practice I struggle to teach people to stop,

[Which was why I used inverted comma quotes, to query the phrase, but ok - delete. RT]

Another is the use of the term "open source" -- something I disagree
with!  That term is not supposed to be mentioned AT ALL in
announcements about my talks.

[I understand and accept that with regard to "Open Source" brand, so do not use it. Instead, I use/d 
"open-source", which is, from my understanding, actually different as both grammatically viable and what *nix has always been since inception - i.e. not the 1990s brand. RT]

Another is mentioning MacOS X as if it were something positive.
It is an evil proprietary system, just as evil as Windows.

[Hmmm. Ok. I had never perceived *BSD in such a wicked light. I've learnt something here. RT]

It is NOT ENOUGH to correct these mistakes in my talk.
Most of the people who read the announcement will not be at my talk.
We need to make a corrective announcement to counteract the misinformation.

Would you please send the following out to the same people and places
that received the previous announcement?

[Yes, I will do that. RT]

======================================================================

A few points need to be corrected in the announcement of Richard
Stallman's visit:

* MacOS X should not be cited as a positive achievement.  That
proprietary (non-free) operating system implements Digital
Restrictions Management and has intentional back doors, so it is just
as evil as Windows.  See DefectiveByDesign.org.

* We regret speaking of "intellectual property" as if that referred to
a coherent concept.  It is an overgeneralization which doesn't really
make any sense at all.  See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.html
for more explanation of this.

* Mozilla was described as "open source", a term which should not have
been used, since it refers to a different philosophy which Stallman
disagrees with.  For more explanation of the difference, see
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html.


Please stop propagating the previous announcement and replace it with
this corrected version:

[The CPIF publication is neither editable, nor retractable, but I am able to append your corrections. Thankyou for them. Only the following would go out in any (unlikely) republication.
 RT]


----------------------------------------------------------------------
Kim Hill listeners on Canterbury Public Issues Forum (CPIF) may have 
heard yesterday's Richard Stallman interview:

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday

http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/sat/sat-20080809-0845-Richard_Stallman_Freedom.ogg

Computer users who value telecommunications independence know who this 
gentleman is, through his historic achievement - the GNU/Linux operating 
system - aided and abetted by a cast of thousands of computer 
programmers around the world. This real-time, borderless, perhaps 
futurist online community offers one of the best examples available as 
to what "sustainability" actually is, keeping alive as it does the 
sharing principle without which computing could never have
developed. The message, networks, and interoperability are important -
fundamental even - to human survival in the face of emerging global
crisis.

Other examples of the level of influence held by the international
innovation stable out of which GNU/Linux comes, are: the Internet
itself; Wikipedia (based on GNU copyleft licensing); Mozilla Firefox
web browser (free software); Google search engine (GNU/Linux-based);
and OnlineGroups.Net <http://onlinegroups.net> (the E-Democracy.Org
<http://e-democracy.org> platform). So, it is with great and sincere
appreciation that this card-carrying netizen can announce the
Christchurch speaking details for Richard M Stallman ('RMS'), thanks
to the University of Canterbury's Computer Science & Software
Engineering <http://www.cosc.canterbury.ac.nz> department, and their
Free Culture Club <http://www.cosc.canterbury.ac.nz/freeculture/>.

Date: Saturday 16 August
Time: 2:00-4:30pm
Place: Lecture Theatre Arts 1 - A1, east of James Hight Library - 
University of Canterbury
Topic: Computers, GNU and Free Culture.

A1 has capacity for 320 persons, and expect it to be packed.

-- 
Kind regards,
Rik Tindall