Dear All,

Pardon me that I feel obliged to respond to this.

Full Disclosure: I am a good friend of both Gunner and Jaromil, and am not
ashamed of that towards either of them. I do have my criticism and
reservations about some ideas, statements, and attitudes/actions of them
both, and I would be hypocritical of me to gloss over the fact that this
applies more to Jaromil than to Gunner. But then I know Jaromil a bit
better, and as everyone knows, familiarity breeds contempt ... ;-)

I also know quite exactly what the hurt is between Jaromil and Gunner,
since I was witness to it happening. It makes the respective viewpoints
understandable, but I do not think it should play very much of a role in
this discussion.

This being said,

(i) Speaking of Gunner's and Aspiration Tech's 'omnipresence' in the field
of F/OSS advocacy for NGOs is ridiculous. His organisation is merely one
in a fairly extended galaxy of actors going for the same with a varying
degree of success and genuineness. I'd say his is one of the better ones.
And I leave it to you to make sense of "playing a bullying and
hypocritical
blackmail game against the very content producers he is using". I can't.

(ii) The case of Free Software as opposed to (merely) Open Source Software
Jaromil appears to be making is both exaggerated and counter-productive.
As 'F/OSSopher' for the Tactical Technology Collective (the former
organisers of 'SourceCamps' - F/OSS 'bootcamps' ;-) for non-profits) I
have always stressed that the differences between 'pure' Free Software
('Stallman style') and Open Source Software sec ('Raymond style') are
non-trivial. At the same time, it is a fact that these differences do not
matter very much to the average end-user, at the individual or non-profit
organisation level.
What really matters is the choice between proprietary software and F/OSS,
which is both something the average end-user can (be made to) understand,
and is also essential to foster an attitude towards ICT that is not that
of a passive, dumb, and in the end ripped-of consumer, both materially and
in spirit.

This is where both Aspiration Tech (Gunner) and Dyne.org (Jaromil) play a
role. Maybe for difference audiences and constituencies (target groups?
;-) and surely with different backgrounds, means, and ideologies, but to
the same effect. So: let's look at what unites and not at what divides!

And by all means, do read the FSF and GNU stuff!

Cheers to all!
patrizio & Diiiinooos!


> dear Devin,
>
> On Fri, 16 Sep 2011, Devin Balkind wrote:
>

>>    I met with Allen (aka Gunner) last week when I was in SF and look
>>    forward to collaborating with him and his team to create a
>>    comprehensive set of services that makes it easier for nonprofit
>>    and community organizations to benefit from the open source
>>    revolution taking place around the world.

>
> I wish you good luck with that. I have a relatively long experience in
> the field of free/libre software adoption by NGOs, a track I've
> followed in the very middle of the hype growing, always by keeping
> close contact with the directives of the Free Software Foundation, a
> group of people that is sincerely focusing on the long term adoption
> of technology in the so (arrogantly) called developing countries.
>
> Leaving aside delusions and bitterness, many caused by Gunner's
> omnipresence in the field playing a bullying and hypocritical
> blackmail game against the very content producers he is using, the
> only recommendation I can give you is PLEASE read the documents
> produced by the FSF and GNU projects and start from the one about the
> difference between "open source" and "free/libre software", in
> particular the recent derives towards the so called "tivoization" of
> open source devices.
>
> in solidarity,
> ciao
>
> --
> jaromil, dyne.org developer, http://jaromil.dyne.org
> GPG: B2D9 9376 BFB2 60B7 601F 5B62 F6D3 FBD9 C2B6 8E39
>
>
>
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