[Scale-planning] Free Software Representation at SCaLE

Mark Holmquist marktraceur at gmail.com
Tue Jan 24 19:22:19 PST 2012


Hi!

I didn't want to voice this concern before the conference (figuring
that, like me, the planning team had plenty to do already), but now I
have something pretty important to say. Read on.

Some background: I'm a Free Software user. That means that when you tell
me "Southern California Linux Expo", I wonder why "GNU" isn't included.
I also wonder why BSD and Haiku (among other, non-Linux operating
systems) are included.

But those things are not the real reason I'm emailing today. It is
because, this year, I noticed a marked absence of free software talks
and programs. The FOSS Mentoring program, which was a step in the right
direction, remained (though, I think, was added very late). Many other,
new programs were added that represent the Open Source ideals. There are
also new programs that represent the Linux community. There were
presentations on nonfree cloud services (in fact, the Saturday keynote
focused on one). There were several presentations on Oracle projects,
which cannot be in *perfect* keeping with Free Software ideals. In fact,
the only other example of a Free Software presentation I can see is Tom
Callaway's, for which I commend him.

This brings me to a question: Is the Free Software community so
diminutive that no speakers wanted to address them? Or is this a
preference of the SCaLE planners that is manifesting in policy? Another
question: Is it wise, given this conference's need for attendees, to
systematically exclude any community that would otherwise want to
attend? I hope to discuss this further upon replies.

I, for one, refused to attend for those very reasons, so I hope that you
will consider changing these policies, or maybe asking for term-agnostic
presentations, before next year's conference. Thanks.

-- 
Mark Holmquist
Student, Computer Science
University of Redlands
MarkTraceur at gmail.com



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