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Our Blogs Open Sauce - A GNU perspective FOSS folk who make us proud | FOSS folk who make us proud |
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| by Sam Varghese | |
| Tuesday, 25 December 2007 | |
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Page 2 of 2 So, after beginning the year with the deeds of a bunch of cowards at Novell fresh in the mind, at year's end we have some heroes, people devoted to the ideals of FOSS, developers who can really call themselves men. Man, does it gladden the heart, especially at this time of the year. Just read what Tridgell, Allison and Lendecke went through - and contrast it with the craven way in which the GNOME Foundation is trying to deal with the OOXML issue. Chalk and cheese, did I hear you say? Black and white? Cowards and heroes, is probably a better way to describe it. Let's remember that Allison resigned from Novell on a matter of principle after the company signed its patent deal with Microsoft. Of course, the cynics would say that Allison could do it - he is eminently employable. They would be missing the point - if that is the case why didn't people like Miguel de Icaza and Nat Friedman also resign on the same principle? Are you going to tell me that they cannot get equally good employment? (I actually doubt whether they need to be employed any more but that's a different issue). The European authorities deserve a standing ovation, too. Would this have happened in the US? Never. The EU people involved never blinked; there were various stages after the judgement - that Microsoft would have to provide protocol documentation - when Microsoft announced that it had met the necessary requirements. But the EU did not take this as gospel; instead, it went through the detail and pushed for complete compliance. Finally, Redmond had to bend over. Tridgell cites Red Hat's Alan Cox, and the FSF's Eben Moglen and Carlo Piana as playing a crucial role. These, again, are unsung heroes of the FOSS community - you hear of them but rarely while spinmeisters poke their face into the camera every single day. Some craven American commentators are seeing the Samba deal as evidence that "that there are groups within Microsoft who are willing to work in good faith with the free software world.." (I think it does rankle a bit with our American friends that it was the EU that managed to whip Microsoft into some kind of compliance.) I've got some news for this bunch of brown-nosers - Microsoft only negotiates when it has no other way out. If it can wriggle out any other way, it will. It's a good idea to do some holiday reading and research the history of this convicted monopolist. Everyone in the community owes Tridgell, Allison and Lendeck a big debt. They can stand tall - as developers, role models and as simple good human beings. I have never met any of this trio - but if I do, I'll bend down and touch their feet in the ultimate Indian gesture of respect, the respect we show to people whom we class as gurus. And I mean guru in its traditional Indian meaning. (Apologies to any regular readers for the delay in getting this up but two bereavements in the family haven't made it easy for me to work, especially during this period.)
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