Re: [Fsuk-manchester] The free software movement's dilemma

[Simon Ward]

On Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 09:41:39PM +0000, Tim Dobson wrote:
> For instance: the open data movement.
> 
> The open data movement is not the same as the free software
> movement, but *is* much younger.
> 
> The open data movement has had considerable success in various
> fields, and considering that in 2008, barely anyone had heard of it,
> has had a meteoric rise to popularity. Why is that? What has it done
> that we can copy and emulate?

The open data movement is nowhere near as extreme as free software. It
is not far removed from open source. Extreme causes are almost by
definition hard to disseminate to the masses.

Maybe we should be less extreme to attract a bigger following, but then
we wouldn’t be advocating free software. We would be giving up some of
our freedoms to spread the word. Yet freedom is the heart of the
philosophy. What does that make us? Hypocrites?

Simon
-- 
A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a
simple system that works.—John Gall

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