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
Cyberspace
http://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?

Finally, I recognize
that there is a
difference between
information and
What does experience and I
vastly prefer the
Barlow say latter.
today?

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.