Dear All, I consider myself a responsible member/volunteer of the Free Software Community of Nepal (FOSS Nepal). Therefore, I have chosen to express a few of my views regarding Software Freedom Day 2009 being organized on behalf of FOSS Nepal. For any open community, means of communication like this mailing list are the best and preferred ways to air one's opinions and start discussion. I hope this will be taken in that light and that this will be taken totally in a healthy and free spirit. I don't mean any harm to any individual, organization or ideas and noone should take this mail personally. A healthy discussion full of valid arguments and reasons would be highly appreciated. Also, I mean everything written in my signature, especially the 2nd point.
Like all of us, I was preparing myself for Software Freedom Day 2009 in Kathmandu. I and my friends were even thinking of doing a session on a few enterprise level free softwares with my friends. Because of personal reasons, I hadn't been able to find enough time to involve myself in the preparation and organization of SFD this year but it was good to see enthusiastic and some new volunteers gearing up for the event, all very well. Yesterday, I received this invitation (http://groups.google.com/group/foss-nepal/browse_thread/thread/e21b5416a725bd16) for SFD, written in an informal language, where, all of a sudden the name of the event had changed to "D2Hawkeye Services Software Freedom Day 2009." The wiki page of SFD had also moved and the page now reflected the change in the name. A few hours and discussions later, the page moved back to its original location with the original name intact. This surely smelt foul. Is this something official, or done at the whims of some person (or a group or person)? If it is official, why is it changed every now and then and without announcing it first anywhere? If it isn't official, why is this happening, who is allowing this to happen and if this is wrong, what actions will be taken? And where is the integrity of FOSS Nepal as a community (or as an organization too)? Yesterday evening, weird things were seen on twitter too. Anybody can search for @fossnepal 's tweets and witness of the kind of personal messages and verbal abuses broadcast for the whole world to see. Of course, it now seems that the right to feel ashamed of such activities are reserved by only a limited fraction of this community. First of all, the change of name was never announced, let alone discussed in this mailing list. No page related to SFD ever mentioned that. Some guys told that the "Concept Note" had such ideas and it was the fault of those who hadn't read it. But the concept note (http://wiki.fossnepal.org/index.php?title=Concept_Note) doesn't even contain the word "Prime Sponsor." Then someone suggested that the "Generic Proposal" contained the idea. Of course it did, but as it is apparent, the Proposal was meant for Sponsors and anybody who's not a sponsor would hardly download and study it. Even if someone would have wanted, before any discussion was called, the Proposal was already made ready for "download" after being "prepared" (http://groups.google.com/group/foss-nepal/browse_thread/thread/3908789b5adac6ab/27b59e8eaafe764a) . Even in the "Generic Proposal" (whatever the word generic means in this context, I am made to believe that is is a Proposal for SFD 09), it has been mentioned, "Event is named after the sponsor, For example. 'ABC Software Meeting 2009'". I am not sure if it was intentional, but the language sure leaves a lot of room for ambiguity. Coming to the main point, as I remember from last year's SFD celebration, there was a heated discussion in a meeting over naming HLCIT as an "organizer" of SFD. After intense debates, it was decided that it was preferable to organize a small but 'free' SFD rather than letting HLCIT take the credit of organizer of the event in return for sponsorship. This was a very contentious issue and I am sure a similar issue this year deserved some feedback and comments from the members of this community. Letting it go just like that means an attempt to validate it by letting no discussion happen about the issue. This year, a sponsor (albeit it maybe one who's contributed a lot to Free Software in Nepal and blah blah) has been allowed to changed the name of an international event whose sanctity has been proven to be a very sensitive issue (as demonstrated last year) among Nepalese and international FOSS supporters alike. As I've written somewhere else (http://groups.google.com/group/foss-nepal/msg/f4dd2958885e34e1), if FOSS Nepal isn't some INGO or NGO, we deserve an answer to the questions raised here and I hope that will happen. Thanking you, Bibek Paudel -- Disclaimer: By sending an email to any of my addresses you are agreeing that: 1. All information in the email is mine to do with as I see fit and make such financial profit, political mileage, or good joke as it lends itself to. 2. I may take the contents as representing the views of your company. 3. This overrides any disclaimer or statement of confidentiality that may be included on your message. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ FOSS Nepal mailing list: foss-nepal@googlegroups.com http://groups.google.com/group/foss-nepal To unsubscribe, e-mail: foss-nepal+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com Community website: http://www.fossnepal.org/ -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
