Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1999 14:23:31 -0800 From: Gregory Sutter <gsutter@pobox.com> To: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> Cc: jgrosch@mooseriver.com, Gary Kline <kline@tera.com>, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Windows Refund Day: Watch out for Linux tactics Message-ID: <19990214142331.Q22179@orcrist.mediacity.com> In-Reply-To: <4.1.19990214130237.00a618d0@mail.lariat.org>; from Brett Glass on Sun, Feb 14, 1999 at 01:21:28PM -0700 References: <4.1.19990214114417.03fa0480@mail.lariat.org> <199902132126.NAA14285@athena.tera.com> <199902132126.NAA14285@athena.tera.com> <19990213134206.A10635@mooseriver.com> <4.1.19990214114417.03fa0480@mail.lariat.org> <19990214114602.P22179@orcrist.mediacity.com> <4.1.19990214130237.00a618d0@mail.lariat.org>
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On Sun, Feb 14, 1999 at 01:21:28PM -0700, Brett Glass wrote: > At 11:46 AM 2/14/99 -0800, Gregory Sutter wrote: > > >From the very first paragraph of <http://hugin.imat.com/refund/>, the > >Bay Area refund organization: > > > >"If you are a user of Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, or another > >free/Open Source operating system, you may be entitled to a refund > >for unused Microsoft products bundled with your computer." > > This is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. Users of BSDI, > SCO, Solaris, BeOS, OS/2, and NetWare are likewise entitled to > refunds. Yet Rick Moen, a Linux zealot whose Web site is named > (characteristically) "linuxmafia", refuses to allow users of > these OSes to participate in his event. He has agreed to allow > users of the BSDs to participate, but then conveniently fails > to mention that they're involved when he speaks to the press. Rick has been very good about mentioning this as an Open Source event, and not a Linux or OpenBSD or any other OS event. If the media has Linux on the brain and can't seem to report on anything else, that isn't Rick's fault. I have been physically present on several occasions when he has been speaking about Refund Day, and he has been fair and very non-partisan on both of those occasions. > >The Bay Area movement, and Rick Moen in particular, has done a > >fantastic job of uniting different OS camps in this effort, achieving > >that goal without any sniping between camps (until you had to shoot > >off your mouth/fingers). > > Nonsense. Rick has alienated users of commercial alternative OSes > by specifically stating, on their Web site, that they are not > welcome to participate but instead are invited to mount "separate" > efforts. In a message on the Appraising Microsoft mailing list, > Rick wrote: > > |We're not "dividing people": We're just organising open-source OS > |users who wish to return their unused, unwanted, bundled Microsoft > |software covered by an appropriate EULA. If you don't like that for > |any reason, that's fine, too: Feel free to run your own effort in > |your own way. > > In short, "We're not dividing people, but you are not > welcome because you don't run one of the OSes we've deemed > acceptable." Brett, this is ridiculous. He has every right to limit this movement to open-source OSes if he wants to. As he says, if you don't like it, go ahead and organize your own refund effort. I suppose you would also like it if Daemon News started reporting Linux and Microsoft programs/achievements, to somehow prove that we "deem them acceptable"? > >Just admit that, for this one day, all Open > >Source (and even all non-Microsoft) OSes have a common enemy. > > I will, but Rick won't. And you can bet that, when the press comes > to call, he'll promote this as a Linux-only effort, making the BAFUG > members and organizers feel foolish for lending their support. But [...] > Because that's Rick's goal, denials to the contrary. When you prove yourself as adept a mind-reader as you claim, I will begin to believe your largely-unfounded statements. Until then, Rick, BAFUG, and the Linux Mafia will have an enjoyable Windows Refund Day and hopefully get some money back from Microsoft. Greg -- Gregory S. Sutter "I think not," said Descartes... mailto:gsutter@pobox.com and promptly disappeared. http://www.pobox.com/~gsutter/ PGP DSS public key 0x40AE3052 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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