Makkal Sakti

மககள சகத, Makkal Sakti,People Power,人民力量 ,

Kuasa Rakyat, लोगो को ििजली

Quick Disclaimer

I speak only for myself.

Notes

● Interrupt me anytime.● I have hearing problems.● Talk loudly and slowly.

Irrelevant Qualifications

Author and maintainer of:

fb_defio, hecubafb, metronomefb, broadsheetfb, arcfb, wacom w8001, atlas, quickcam_messenger, cs5535audio, etc

Goals for this session.

– FOSS culture? History?– FOSS community(s)?

Looking at history.Many have tried to build free communities. Here's one from 1776.

We the People ..., in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice ... promote the general Welfare ... do ordain and establish this Constitution for the ...

Looking at history.

...We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all humans are created equal, that they are endowed by their Flying Spaghetti Monster with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Looking at history.Code published 1776.In debug between 1776 - 2008.Unit Test PASSED : Nov 4, 2008!Future tests:- gender- orientation- disbelief

More recent history

–John Perry Barlow–A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspacehttp://homes.eff.org/~barlow/Declaration-Final.html

John Perry Barlow:Governments of the World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather.

What do you think about that?

Did it have any effect? Any impact?

John Perry Barlow:

We are forming our own Social Contract . This governance will arise according to the conditions of our world, not yours. Our world is different.

John Perry Barlow:

We are creating a world that all may enter without privilege or prejudice accorded by gender, race, economic power, military force, or station of birth.

After all that?

Did “internet culture” head anywhere in that direction?

What does Barlow say today?

Finally, I recognize that there is a difference between information and experience and I vastly prefer the latter.

Ok. Enough cheese.

Let's look at FOSS specific things.

Let's checkout FSF. The 4 freedoms. Freedom to...

–run the program, for any purpose –study and adapt it to your needs.–redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor.–improve and release improvements so that the whole community benefits.–Run; Study; Redistribute; Modify

Is Talking the Talk necessary to...

... make your community walk the walk?

James Bottomley

Contrasting Linux and FSF approaches to culture.

James Bottomley

–Linux community doesn't need to talk about freedom;–The focus is on code quality and passion.–Freedom is not legislated;–Linux has brought about software freedom without talking about it;–without imposing a view of software freedom on its contributors.

James Bottomley

Linux has succeeded in creating something which is as free - or more free - than the GNU system envisioned by the Free Software Foundation.

Joe Buck

In the past, FSF projects have been impaired less by an emphasis on freedom-as-ideology than an overly centralized management style.RMS is more of a pragmatist than he is often given credit for.

Anyway... where does that leave “foss community”?

– Many communities and individuals form the “FOSS community”– Very disparate values– Some communities define their values clearly and demand members do so as well– Some communities prefer to let the values be emergent

Do you feel like you are part of a community?

Which communities do I feel part of?

Why is Community important?

P.Z. Myers:Scattered individuals who are

excluded from communities do not receive the benefits of community,

nor do they feel willing to contribute to the communities that exclude

them.

A point for community. Exclude. Include.

We remember not the ignorant, but the silence of those who knew better.

MLKjr

Have you said/done things that excluded *?Have you sat idle as someone else did?

Would you like to change things?

Want மககள சகத?

–Think about your culture and your laws. Compare and Contrast.–Think about judging by the content of ones character(s)/code and by merit.

Thanks. Go out there and do good things.