[Fsfe-ie] ifso.info & launch on monday

[Niall Douglas]

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On 4 Jan 2004 at 20:56, Ciaran O'Riordan wrote:

> I'm afraid of paypal for various reasons, this was discussed a while
> ago, and niall douglas pointed out an alternate solution:
> 
> http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/fsfe-ie/2003-December/000413.html
> 
> We'll discuss it again after we're up and running.

Didn't see that before my previous post, sorry.

Re: the IFSO website. I'd personally not mention Richard Stallman at 
all because I don't agree with him, his name evokes bad vibes among 
many business leaders and it's easier to make cogent arguments to be 
interpreted standing on their own without referring to others. The 
arguments are so simple and obvious it doesn't take long to make them 
complete.

Also, it's "software libre" according to correct Spanish and Italian 
grammar and it's what they use there. "Libre software" just sounds 
stupid IMHO, though many would disagree.

I also feel it's slightly GNU-centric. I recently had an argument 
about whether there is more MIT/BSD/LGPL software around than GPL. I 
think it's pretty conclusively the former from any searching of 
google, but it's very hard to prove. If so, IFSO should surely 
concentrate more on non-GPL which ideologically is a less bitter pill 
for the business mindset to swallow anyway.

BTW, an excellent book on the business mindset is "Information Rules" 
by Shapiro and Varian. How to lock in your users by fudging software 
interfaces, documentation and then ruthlessly exploit them whilst 
destroying all competition by raising and maintaining barriers to 
entry. There's a particularly good section on how pretending to 
create open standards opens opportunities for exploitation :)

Cheers,
Niall





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