[fsf-community-team] Re: Welcome to the "fsf-community-team" mailing list

[list]

Hallo,

my name is Andreas K. Förster. My native language is German.

Well, actually I'm not very good in advocating for anything,
but I'm still interested in this topic.
Maybe I can learn something here...

> 1) Send us a quick introduction. What blogs, news sites, or
> communities do you follow? Are there particular news topics that you
> would like to focus on?

Well, mostly Free Software sites, but even there is often lots of 
misinformation.

I often follow links from fsdaily 
http://www.fsdaily.com/users/akf 
and I read Pro-Linux 
http://www.pro-linux.de/
and I am on Identi.ca
http://identi.ca/akfoerster

I read some more, but those only in a "read-only-mode" ;-)

> 2) Let us know that you've read these five articles about the FSF's
> basic philosophy and common mistakes that people make.

Of course I knew them.

> 3) Write some short responses to these excerpts below, as if you were
> responding with a short comment to somebody's blog post. These are
> representative of the sort of things we often find ourselves
> responding to. Be polite, concise, and -- most of all -- make sure you
> hit the most important points.
> 
> This will give us an idea of your writing style, and it gives FSF
> staff and other volunteers on the list a chance to offer feedback and
> show you the ropes.

Okay, I'll give it a try anyway...

>     * Excerpt: Richard Stallman started the FSF in order to promote
> open source software like the Linux operating system, as an
> alternative to expensive software like Windows.

- Well, actually Richard Stallman promotes "Free Software".
Open Source is a later offshot of the Free Software movement,
and they have quite some different opinions about some topics, 
so it's better to distiguish between them.
- The Free Software movement prefers to call the operating system 
"GNU/Linux", because a large part of it was written by the GNU project. 
"Linux" is the name of the kernel of that system. A kernel alone doesn't 
make an operating system.
- Describing the GNU/Linux operating system as an "alternative to [...]
Windows" might give the wrong impression to some people. GNU/Linux is
quite different from Windows in some regards.

...Actually I wouldn't raise all that topics at once, I would only pick
one or two (depending on my mood). And even then people often say, that 
I am nitpicking... :-(
And by the way, I intentionally did not say anything about the 
"expensive"-topic... I know, it's not what Free Software is about, 
but to many it is also a crucial aspect.


>     * Excerpt: Now with cloud computing and web-based applications,
> even Linux users can use the same software as everyone else, through
> their browsers. With other popular programs like Skype and Adobe Flash
> producing Linux versions, the Linux desktop may finally be catching
> on!

If I would read something like this, I would most probably despair
and say nothing. But for you:

Maybe it would be better, if everyone else would use the same software
as the GNU/Linux users. There is more good software, than you might 
think. There is not just one single vendor working on them, but anyone
is invited to improve them.

As Skype or Adobe Flash is concerned... Well, they aren't Free Software.
The upcoming HTML5 standard has support for embedded video. 
So it is better to do it in a standard way, that is supported by more 
than just one piece of software. Free Software browsers based on Mozilla 
or Webkit already support embedded videos in the HTML5 way. 
[delibaratly not mentioning Ogg Theora at this point].
For web-applications you could use Java (or JavaScript when possible).

For telephony it would be better to support the SIP standard. That is
also supported by Free Software... although I don't know much about 
Internet-telephony.

>     * Excerpt: When combined with the other chapters that include
> statutory damages, search and seizure powers for border guards,
> anti-camcording rules, and mandatory disclosure of personal
> information requirements, it is clear that there is no bigger
> intellectual property issue today than the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade
> Agreement being negotiated behind closed doors this week in Korea.

ACK.

[I know that you are opposing the term "intellectual property",
but I wouldn't raise that here. It's a rather minor issue.]

> Thank you so much for volunteering,

I didn't say that! ;-)

-- 
AKFoerster