● 03.15.11
●● Interlude: Promoting Ideas, Not Companies
Posted in Free/Libre Software, GNU/Linux, Kernel at 7:22 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Avoiding the risk of personifying issues rather than address the issues themselves
LINUX is a registered trademark. Ubuntu is too, and in fact it is actively enforced by Canonical. Some of these brands are used by freedom-respecting and proprietary players alike. This means that in order to promote freedom one ought to stress values like GNU, not Linux.
There is nothing wrong with Linux. It is one of the most successful free software projects out there and it typically brings along with it other Free software such as Apache. To better position the site with the goal of freedom in mind, we’ve been debating the format in IRC and elsewhere (logs will be uploaded at a later date). It was decided that RSS feeds will continue to play the same role as always. It seems sensible, however, to teach ideas rather than name brands. Ideas last, companies don’t. In fact, many names such as Progeny, OpenMoko, and Moblin no longer mean all that much. It’s not a coincidence as brands come and go, unlike insights. Some formerly open source companies are not disowning proprietary, either (they call themselves “Dual” or “Open Core”). When we return to regular posting there will be greater emphasis on ideas and not just on companies, which relate ideas to groups of people. This site is educational, not promotional. Education survives, whereas marketing is a moving target. One day in the near future names like Apple and Microsoft may be replaced by names like Amazon and Facebook, once again illustrating the fact that phantom threats are ‘umbrellas’ that bring together potentially sociopathic types, who can move from one company to another (people usually outlive companies). If people are taught to ban particular brands (Novell may soon be renamed), they may never learn the reasons to avoid what these companies morph into, sometimes owing to a rename. Lessons that last are based upon characteristics, not names. To use an example, be a patent bully which bribes, sabotages, lies, and avoids tax is not the same as just “being Microsoft”; to teach the roots of the problem is to equip people with the critical skills they will need to identify future enemies and alienate them early enough so as to expel mistreatment of one’s community. █
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