On Wed, Jul 02, 2008 04:16:06 AM -0400, Danny Piccirillo wrote: > One of the biggest challenges with this movement is helping > non-technical people understand the issue and why it matters.
Danny, and list, first of all, a general note: this very challenge is my main interest/area of activity in this period, because I am convinced this is a critical issue. My own way to face it is in the signature below. I did this because I am also convinced that the traditional way to promote FOSS has already reached some built-in limit, as I explained at http://www.ukuug.org/newsletter/16.3/#help__marco or in the "Opinions" section at digifreedom.net, and risk becoming less and less effective every year. Feedback on those thoughts is always welcome! With respect to your main question: > This petition at http://devalpatrick.com/issue/freesoftware asks for > the government of massachusetts to use Free Software exclusively. > What if there were a website where you could ask that your (federal > and, if a large country, local) government to adopt free software > exclusively? If somebody does this or similar initiatives I will certainly mention them on digifreedom.net and spread the news as much as I can. This said, I see a couple of problems, or at least of limits in such an initiative that it is necessary to mention (constructively, of course): - in several countries, demanding that governments "use Free Software exclusively" may be counterproductive (much easier to figth with some variety of the "it's all a no-global/commie/hippy dream or conspiration, just ignore those freaks" FUD, not to mention that FOSS alternatives sometimes simply don't exist and should be developed from scratch; or just plain conflicting with local procurement regulations: limiting bids to specific *products* (and this is what using only GPL stuff would _look_ like) is either explicitly forbidden or considered against free market etc... Whereas demanding that "governments use exclusively non proprietary digital standards, file formats, communication protocols..." is much easier to promote and defend - the majority of people we need to reach today to make a critical mass are exactly those who don't sign online petitions period because don't own a personal computer or use it only as a game console or occasional typewriter, so they couldn't care less of software licenses (**) Practical suggestions: if you ever do such a site, don't forget to provide PDF copies of each form, so people can print, sign and fax or snail mail them to their representatives (paper weights more than bits etc... see note below). HTH, Marco Fioretti (**) incidentally, this is exactly one of the reasons why I wrote a book to face this challenge, rather than organizing online petitions myself: the same words printed on bounded paper, on a real book, make a much, much deeper effect than if they were read on a PC screen, so if with that I can get 100 non-geeks to grab a pen and _handwrite_ a complaint, the impact may be bigger than an avalanche of many more email messages. Like it or not, one sheet of (signed/bounded) paper still weights much more than one million bits in our culture. -- Your own civil rights and the quality of your life heavily depend on how software is used *around* you: http://digifreedom.net/node/84 -- ubuntu-marketing mailing list ubuntu-marketing@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-marketing
