Free and open source software (FOSS) advocates need to stop obsessing about Microsoft. But, just as clearly, many of them won't, if the reactions I received when I blogged about the subject are any indication. Never mind that FOSS is a necessary fixture in modern business, or has evolved defenses that ensure its survival -- or that paranoia and juvenile gestures like talking about "Micro$oft" and "Windoze" only hurt the cause. For many, hatred of Microsoft is a way of life, and they'd be lost without it.
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braydon
16 years 46 weeks 6 days 10 hours ago
If you notice in the tag cloud
If you notice in the tag cloud on the lower right of the page their name appears very large; not a good thing. Even writing their name, adds to it. I think it's best to ignore them, and not mention them (until they want to cooperate). Thanks for your support :)
leo
16 years 46 weeks 6 days 9 hours ago
This issue has been discussed on
This issue has been discussed on numerous occasions. If we ignored Microsoft's efforts to get OOXML pushed through as an iso standard we would possibly have two iso standards to deal with: one open and one proprietary one.
We can't turn our back on the enemy. And that's why their name appears so highly in the list of tags. It's because of how often articles are talking about what they are up to that is against freedom or about how there are alternatives to their products.
However, I do think we could all do with a little more focus on what we can achieve rather than on trying to be better than MS.
braydon
16 years 46 weeks 6 days 9 hours ago
I agree with you on the OOXML,
I agree with you on the OOXML, but this is different. The attack is focused on OOXML, rather than it's owner.
braydon
16 years 46 weeks 6 days 8 hours ago
Actually come to think about it.
Actually come to think about it. Should we really care about if other people use free software, it's not really our business. They are free to use whatever they wish to use. Our best way to get more people supporting free software is to make make better software, and to create more doorways for people to support it, rather than attacking non-free software. There is nothing terribly wrong with non-free software, it just can't be what free software can be. Once free software really takes advantage of all the four freedoms though, there won't be a need to resist non-free software, free software is just better. It will happen when it needs to happen and not any sooner.
braydon
16 years 46 weeks 6 days 8 hours ago
Also, if the goal is to keep an
Also, if the goal is to keep an eye on the "enemy" why isn't Apple just as large as Microsoft in the tag cloud? They in fact don't even show up. This seems a little weird to me!
braydon
16 years 46 weeks 6 days 7 hours ago
Apple doesn't show up anywhere
Apple doesn't show up anywhere in the tag cloud but Microsoft does. Why is this? Microsoft more frequently tries to attack free software because they fear it more perhaps? Maybe they do this just to get free advertising through free software channels. It's all publicity, positive or negative.
mads
16 years 46 weeks 6 days 6 hours ago
When the attacker keeps trying
When the attacker keeps trying different ways to attack you shouldn't just look at the individual attacks but at the attacker. This way you can better idea of what they might be planning next. You also have to keep an eye on activity that might not at first glance appear to be attacks. Deals with Novell, filing their own open source licenses with the OSI etc.
mads
16 years 46 weeks 6 days 5 hours ago
The free software community is
The free software community is not primarily made up of coders. Coders should focus on coding.
"They are free to use whatever they wish to use."
Yes. And using proprietary software often leads to vendor-lock-in. Then they are no longer free to use whatever they want.
"There is nothing terribly wrong with non-free software"
This makes me think you don't understand the real implications of proprietary software. The healthcare industry is prime example of a place where lives are _literally_ at risk due to the use of proprietary software. Medical records can be rendered inaccessible due to non-payment of licensing fees or the vendor going out of business (just a couple of many examples). Those records may contain information vital to your health. And, if they are inaccessible, you may actually die.
I would call that something terribly wrong with proprietary software.
I agree with the rest of your comment 100%
mads
16 years 46 weeks 6 days 5 hours ago
Because Apple isn't the gigantic
Because Apple isn't the gigantic monopoly trying to destroy all enemies. Apple is a smaller and more flexible/mobile company. But it is also a hardware company. You buy Macs not just for Mac OS but for the hardware that it comes on.
mads
16 years 46 weeks 6 days 5 hours ago
Because the media doesn't carry
Because the media doesn't carry stories about Apple slinging FUD, or lobbying governments, or undermining deals, or making patent infringement threats, or ... the list goes on and on.
What does Apple do?
I'm not saying they do nothing. But, if they do, the media doesn't carry those stories otherwise they would be submitted and voted up.
This site is a news hub. The tag cloud is a reflection of what topics the free software related news and articles cover.
Don't get confused into thinking FSDaily's community has designed it that way.
braydon
16 years 46 weeks 6 days 5 hours ago
@mads This is were I disagree.
@mads
This is were I disagree. I don't see Microsoft as an enemy, and I don't see them attacking me. The only thing they are doing is trying to conquer their users so they remain dependent on them. They are attacking their users, i'm not one of their users. They can go their way, I can go my way.
braydon
16 years 46 weeks 6 days 5 hours ago
Microsoft isn't trying to destroy
Microsoft isn't trying to destroy all enemies. That would surely mean they would 'legally' be a monopoly, so if anything, that's the exact opposite of their goal. It seems to me that the goal of "free software" is to destroy all enemies. I want all software I use should be free, I don't care if other people use non-free software on their own, it's just not as good. People are entitled to use crap if they want to use crap software. I enjoy eating crappy cheap food everyonce in awhile, and i'd be a bit annoyed if people kept telling me I couldn't.
braydon
16 years 46 weeks 6 days 5 hours ago
Well perhaps Microsoft has designed
Well perhaps Microsoft has designed it that way.
What does Apple do? They make a crappy iPhone that is locked into one carrier, and you can not develop for it, you can't study it's software, distribute, or modify it.
They take a free software operating system such as BSD and wrap it up into a crappy non-free software package.
braydon
16 years 46 weeks 6 days 5 hours ago
Part of the process of a news hub
Part of the process of a news hub is to REMOVE stories. It's a bit annoying as to what ISN'T being filter OUT of this site. I'd rather have less crap stories, and a higher percentage of quality free software stories.
mads
16 years 46 weeks 6 days 4 hours ago
Um. I didn't say MS were attacking
Um. I didn't say MS were attacking you. They are attacking free software.
mads
16 years 46 weeks 6 days 3 hours ago
And there were stories posted to
And there were stories posted to FSD about exactly that. Just not enough of them to get the tag "apple" into the top tags.
mads
16 years 46 weeks 6 days 3 hours ago
This has been discussed a number
This has been discussed a number of times already too. Moderators remove stuff that has nothing to do with free software. The community removes what they think is crap.
The power is in your hands. Submit good news and vote it up. And, bury the crap news.
aboutblank
16 years 46 weeks 5 days 21 hours ago
Does burying news do anything other
Does burying news do anything other than blanking out the entry for the user? It seems like burying stories do nothing to the story.
braydon
16 years 46 weeks 5 days 18 hours ago
Seems to me there is a lack of
Seems to me there is a lack of understanding of the bury system, and it should be something we can use perhaps more strongly, and has better feedback to the user, such as dropping the "voted" number.
braydon
16 years 46 weeks 5 days 18 hours ago
There are many design decisions
There are many design decisions here that are not thing that have been thought through, but are the way the are because of the software's design, which, seems to be a clone of digg. This is embarassing. If you notice, reddit and digg are very different. Fsdaily should be very different than both of them. The only problem I see with Digg, and Reddit is that they are non-free software, which doesn't allow for users to spin off to create their own community. FSdaily on the other hand has many issues with the design of their site and in many areas appears weak. For FSdaily to really be successful they need to take advantage of their ability to support community. Perhaps FSdaily can agregate the news from many disparate more specialized free software news sites, all using the same software. I think this is the strength of free software, supporting each and every community. Keep in mind that all this branching IS NOT interesting unless you can also merge. :)
braydon
16 years 46 weeks 5 days 18 hours ago
What I mean is that it isn't MY
What I mean is that it isn't MY problem if other people use non-free software. It's not my business. If they want to use crap software they can if they want. I'd be hell bent if someone tries to tell me I can't eat crappy food every once in a while. However the more options i have to grab healthy food, the better, and less easy it is to grab non-healthy food.
dave
16 years 46 weeks 5 days 14 hours ago
I'll field this one: The bury
I'll field this one:
The bury system of pligg is completely and totally flawed. You need a ratio of 3:1 (buries to votes) for a story to be buried. That just doesn't make sense.
We looked into changing it and found so much messed up code that we decided to put our efforts into creating a new system entirely.
This has now been achieved. We are just debugging and making it look pretty and it will be launched.
There will be no "bury" option. Just +1/-1 voting. Stories will stay in the queue for 24 hours regardless of how far they get into the negatives. After that they will be discarded to the archives. If they reach a certain positive threshold they will be promoted. Once promoted they may be demoted again once reaching a lower threshold. I'm not doing the coding so I can't confirm this 100% but it's what I asked for.
Whatever the case it will be a better system than this one. And I am and will be open to suggestions and constructive criticism. We believe in being fully transparent. I will maintain a blog on the new site that will detail what we are up to and people will be able to give feedback and suggestions (as long as it's not abusive).
We just have to remember that the site is for free software which means there will be open source and free software people, and GNU/Linux and Linux people in the community. We will have to learn to respect each other even if we have different motivations for promoting free software and freedom.