Re: eGovOS conference in D.C.; I'm not attending that

[Stanley A. Klein]

At 06:47 AM 2/8/2003 -0500, Richard Stallman <address@hidden> wrote:


>    If we go the press will report what we say.  Some reporters may partly
fall
>    for some Microsoft lies, but if we do not go, almost every reporter will
>    present the worst, stupidest, and most vicious Microsoft lies as being
>    "simply the facts".
>
>It is important to go to the event to correct the falsehoods, but at
>the same time we must also cast doubt on the legitimacy of the event.
>For people who think that "Linux" World reflects what our movement is
>about, the simple fact that they invite Microsoft is a statement much
>louder than ours.  How exactly to do this, I am not sure.
>
>The tendency for events that pretend to be part of our community to
>betray its spirit is very harmful, and we have to push back against
>it.  I wish we could push back much harder than we have done in the
>past.


Are you suggesting that in order for the conference to be legitimate a
university and a conference committee that includes several government
employees should deny a speaker from Microsoft the right to present the
Microsoft position in debate before an audience almost guaranteed to be
packed with active competitors and adversaries of Microsoft?

Can you imagine for a moment the uproar and political firestorm that would
result from such a situation?

At the eGovOS conference in October they had someone from the Alexis de
Toqueville Institute, a Washington think tank nobody ever heard of before,
present a position in a debate with Bruce Perens.  The position was based
on a paper that could easily have been ghost written by a Microsoft
lobbyist.  (There was another pro/anti-Microsoft pair of speakers, but I
don't remember who they were.)  I don't recall a pro-Microsoft question or
comment from the floor during the Q&A following the speeches.  I even asked
a question, which I intend to turn into a proposal for an IEEE-USA position
paper on the conduct of public business in publicly interoperable data
formats.

As an attendee and participant in this and related events, let me assure
you that the event does not merely pretend to be part of our community, it
is part of our community.  And the spirit of our community is not betrayed.
 Indeed, it is extending into government in very positive ways.

Microsoft is working as hard as they can to exclude us from government.  We
need to block their moves.  For example, at the request of the government,
IEEE-USA has committed to setting up a conference on "secure information
technology" and I am working to ensure that the Free Software and Open
Source software communities are represented there.

I view the eGovOS conference as a positive move to help block Microsoft
from what they are trying to do and to advance our cause within government.


Stan Klein