hi there,
I wrote a short blog entry with the title:
“Gno” and “Gyes” campaigns - About positive Free Software campaigning http://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=593
We always try to do positive campaigning. Do we achive that? I am intersted in your opinion.
Best wishes, Matthias
On 06/23/10 10:58, Matthias Kirschner wrote:
“Gno” and “Gyes” campaigns - About positive Free Software campaigning http://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=593
We always try to do positive campaigning. Do we achive that? I am intersted in your opinion.
DRM and Windows 7 are attacks on user freedom, like software patents and proprietary file formats. It's not a negative thing to talk about these problems, and these campaigns are positive steps against a negative, designed to hopefully cancel it out.
-- Matt Lee Campaigns Manager
Free Software Foundation -- http://www.fsf.org/ GNU's Not Unix! -- http://www.gnu.org/ Free Software -- http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
Matt Lee wrote:
On 06/23/10 10:58, Matthias Kirschner wrote:
“Gno” and “Gyes” campaigns - About positive Free Software campaigning http://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=593
We always try to do positive campaigning. Do we achive that? I am intersted in your opinion.
DRM and Windows 7 are attacks on user freedom, like software patents and proprietary file formats. It's not a negative thing to talk about these problems, and these campaigns are positive steps against a negative, designed to hopefully cancel it out.
To answer the first question, FSFe is *much* more positive and I think that it's probably the influence of the rank and file which encourages that, but thanks to FSFE's workers for acting on it.
In general, I feel it is a negative thing to talk about these problems... but that's no bad thing, *as long as* we give people help with direct positive actions that they can do to address them. Does FSF do that?
For example Windows 7: my recent first encounter with it is described at http://www.news.software.coop/samsung-n150-netbook-and-ubuntu-netbook-remix/... with a link to windows7sins.org but I found that site little help myself. Maybe I'm thick, but the long essay overwhelmed me and I'm not installing Sugar on the netbook of an adult who works in an office.
What would help most on windows7sins.org is:
1. obvious links to what you think I should be installing when faced with a Windows 7 machine (I contemplated debian, but installed Ubuntu Netbook Remix in the example, which is imperfect about freedom but infinitely better than Windows 7);
2. links to what the current approach(es) to getting a Windows Refund is(/are), in general, not only Amazon;
3. more social media than a signup box for an unspecified mailing list.
I feel that the essay-based approach and purity policy are two of the biggest problems seen in FSF campaigns - and I boggle that anyone posts that "the absence of similar antifeatures form some of the easiest victories for free software". Features do not sell and antifeatures doubly do not sell. We need to highlight benefits: "One of the basics of selling is to sell on benefits rather than features." http://changingminds.org/disciplines/sales/articles/features_benefits.htm and lots and lots of texts and guides and courses.
But, however, the page is the usual Stallmanesque expressions-of- opinions-cannot-be-improved verbatim/No Derivatives/non-free rubbish "Gno you can't" licensing, with no links to its source code or authors, so I wrote up my experiences, which I know have helped a few people, and then gave up on the FSF site.
Until now. Would FSF open windows7sins.org to the crowd, please? Turn the "Gno you can't" into a "Gyes we can"? It's not like it's shown as the expressed opinion of any one author in particular!
Regards,
On 23 June 2010 22:34, MJ Ray mjr@phonecoop.coop wrote:
Matt Lee wrote:
On 06/23/10 10:58, Matthias Kirschner wrote:
“Gno” and “Gyes” campaigns - About positive Free Software campaigning http://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=593
We always try to do positive campaigning. Do we achive that? I am intersted in your opinion.
DRM and Windows 7 are attacks on user freedom, like software patents and proprietary file formats. It's not a negative thing to talk about these problems, and these campaigns are positive steps against a negative, designed to hopefully cancel it out.
To answer the first question, FSFe is *much* more positive and I think that it's probably the influence of the rank and file which encourages that, but thanks to FSFE's workers for acting on it.
In general, I feel it is a negative thing to talk about these problems... but that's no bad thing, *as long as* we give people help with direct positive actions that they can do to address them. Does FSF do that?
For example Windows 7: my recent first encounter with it is described at http://www.news.software.coop/samsung-n150-netbook-and-ubuntu-netbook-remix/... with a link to windows7sins.org but I found that site little help myself. Maybe I'm thick, but the long essay overwhelmed me and I'm not installing Sugar on the netbook of an adult who works in an office.
What would help most on windows7sins.org is:
1. obvious links to what you think I should be installing when faced with a Windows 7 machine (I contemplated debian, but installed Ubuntu Netbook Remix in the example, which is imperfect about freedom but infinitely better than Windows 7);
2. links to what the current approach(es) to getting a Windows Refund is(/are), in general, not only Amazon;
3. more social media than a signup box for an unspecified mailing list.
I feel that the essay-based approach and purity policy are two of the biggest problems seen in FSF campaigns - and I boggle that anyone posts that "the absence of similar antifeatures form some of the easiest victories for free software". Features do not sell and antifeatures doubly do not sell. We need to highlight benefits: "One of the basics of selling is to sell on benefits rather than features." http://changingminds.org/disciplines/sales/articles/features_benefits.htm and lots and lots of texts and guides and courses.
But, however, the page is the usual Stallmanesque expressions-of- opinions-cannot-be-improved verbatim/No Derivatives/non-free rubbish "Gno you can't" licensing, with no links to its source code or authors, so I wrote up my experiences, which I know have helped a few people, and then gave up on the FSF site.
Until now. Would FSF open windows7sins.org to the crowd, please? Turn the "Gno you can't" into a "Gyes we can"? It's not like it's shown as the expressed opinion of any one author in particular!
I think that attacks on (computer users) freedom are the non ethical (or say ground) state. Yes, positive campaigning is always good, *but* its very important to react when some people have already done so much positive work on a subject and wake up one day and see that they are threatened.
We cannot - or we should not - reinvent the wheel every time we are threatened. What if tomorrow Oracle decides to stop OpenOffice from being free software? We' ll say, "wel, its ok, lets write another OpenOffice from scratch?". I don't think so.
Basically I believe that this is the very meaning of all the Free Software effort. That there *was*, in late 1970s, computer freedom, there *was* free exchange of programs and files between hackers, but one day this freedom was threatened and the hole story began.
These are just my thoughts, I'm in to support every "Gno" or "Gyes" campaign. I don't think that we should compare them.
Kostas Boukouvalas boukouvalas@fsfe.org wrote: [...]
We cannot - or we should not - reinvent the wheel every time we are threatened. What if tomorrow Oracle decides to stop OpenOffice from being free software? We' ll say, "wel, its ok, lets write another OpenOffice from scratch?". I don't think so.
Assuming various things (which I've not checked), maybe Oracle could decide to stop OpenOffice from being free software tomorrow, but they could not stop it from being free software yesterday. Writing another "from scratch" doesn't come into it. Freedom is forever.
So, if Oracle OpenOffice is threatened, the community could have a G-yes campaign to continue its free software development instead of only a Gno campaign against Oracle's action.
If every cloud has a silver lining, then every Gno campaign could be replaced by a G-yes one if there was the vision and will, couldn't it?
It's much easier to encourage action with dreams than nightmares!
Regards,
Greetings,
On Wed, Jun 23, 2010 at 04:58:19PM +0200, Matthias Kirschner wrote:
I wrote a short blog entry with the title:
“Gno” and “Gyes” campaigns - About positive Free Software campaigning http://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=593
We always try to do positive campaigning. Do we achive that? I am intersted in your opinion.
FSFE is achieving that perfectly! And, I fully agreed that campaigns must be positive.
It is psychology -- nothing more. I am not good at it at all, but even I know that parents will fail trying to explain their children what is good and what is bad coming from negative side of that. I do not know why, but nearly noone will listen you very good, if you are saying that "do not do that -- it is bad anyway", etc. One should (I think -- must) understand the problem by himself, understand that it IS a problem, why it is a problem and how can it be solved.
Being some kind of free software activist (spreading free software movement among others :-)) for several years, only the last year I fully understand that position "hey, stop! do not use that! it is closed, proprietary, and so on" will fail nearly all the time. People are using software for ears without any problems, and someone came and began to cry that it is bad and unacceptible. Better way, is to say that there is something better. One should interest people. Anyone can say that something is bad, but can everyone suggest an alternative solution?
Being honest, I (being the member of FSF and of course looking after it all the time, what does it do) am not satisfacted with it at all last time. I really do not like the idea of compaigns like Windows 7 Sins. DefectiveByDesign is similar, but it has (as I remember exactly it :-)) several good movies describing DRM-related problems. Those campaigns are only good and useful for advanced users, programers and hackers mainly. Some kind of brief consolidation of negative sides. But, I am really impressed with the work of FSFE! Really, you guys are doing the very right things with the very right way! Last time, news from FSF are met by me with something like "yet another, yet again" emotions. But, unlike FSF's FSFE ones are met with something like "whoa! another great news!". FSF has the great treasure of course -- perfect speaker RMS, but unfortunately not their campaigns.
On Wed, Jun 23, 2010 at 04:58:19PM +0200, Matthias Kirschner wrote:
hi there,
I wrote a short blog entry with the title:
“Gno” and “Gyes” campaigns - About positive Free Software campaigning http://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=593
We always try to do positive campaigning. Do we achive that? I am intersted in your opinion.
What I was really missing for a long time is a site that easily explains to newbies what GNU/Linux is about and why they should use it. I found such a campaign, but it doesn't come from one of the FSF's.
English: http://www.getgnulinux.org/
Deutsch: http://www.linuxfueralle.de/