[vox-outreach] [education@wef.ucdavis.edu: Re: [Fwd: booth application]]

[Nick Schmalenberger]

On Thu, Apr 19, 2007 at 02:51:53PM -0700, Harold Lee wrote:
> The message from the WEF Education email seems to have missed the 
> freedom, social justice and community building aspects of Open Source 
> software. As computers become more and more integral to daily life, we 
> need to ensure there are computing options available that are not 
> controlled by corporate or government interests. Open Source software 
> empowers people to express themselves, explore, share and discover in 
> ways that no other software does.
> 
> Consider that many software license agreements have clauses that say:
> * If you do not like our software, you may not publically critisize it.
> * If you measure how well the software works, you may not share that 
> information.
> * You may not look at how the software works.
> * Your right to use the software may be revoked for no reason, at any 
> time, without a refund.
> 
> It is not safe to write these terms off saying "Yeah, but they'd never 
> enforce them." When Microsoft was unhappy with the number of illegal 
> copies of Windows being used in South Korea, they threatened the South 
> Korean government that they'd take Microsoft software away from all of 
> South Korea - legal users as well as illegal users.
> 
> With Open Source / Free software, nobody can take away your right to use 
> it, or tell you how you may or may not use it, or what you can say about it.
> 
> From the WEF page [ wef.ucdavis.edu ]:
> 
> "The mission of the Whole Earth Festival is to envision and create a 
> community driven festival of education, music, and art." ... "We will 
> rely on each other more and rely on corporations and oil less"
> 
> I think software is a critical area for people to consider if they want 
> to fulfill this mission.
> 
> Consider also that using Open Source software like Linux also helps the 
> environment. Because this software is more efficient, computers need to 
> be replaced less often, saving the environment from the heavy metals and 
> other toxic chemicals that are in computer hardware. Linux has far 
> better support for old hardware than commercial operating systems.
> 
> Look at the requirement for Windows and Linux:
> http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/systemrequirements.mspx
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_(Linux_distribution)#System_requirements
> 
> Windows requires 512 MB of RAM, and recommends 1024 MB to use all 
> features. By contrast, Ubuntu Linux only asks for 256 MB of RAM for the 
> same functionality. That means less consumerism and less harsh chemicals 
> in the environment.
> 
Thank you very much for helping explain this to the whole earth people.
The two people I have talked to today have been very helpful and agreed
that we should have a booth. I did explain on the phone that Linux is
appropriate technology because it does not require planned obsolescence
and on our application form I checked the "appropriate technology" and
"social justice" categories. Thank you very much for helping explain
this to the whole earth education people.
Nick