Should the open source and free licenses movement in the Philippines allow commercial organizations like Microsoft and VIBAL Publishing House, Inc. to be found among its ranks? This was a question that I posed to the Cebu GNU/Linux Local Users Group (CE-GNU-LUG), a loose group of open source and free license advocates mostly from Cebu City.
My contention is that keeping or allowing these corporations within the ranks of the movement will sooner or later cause the identification of the movement with these corporations. But the open source and free licenses movement arose as a reaction to greedy capitalism. Or am I wrong on this account?
I still remember the WikiPilipinas fiasco, which made me disillusioned with the Cebuano Wikipedia. (The Cebuano Wikipedia will be having its third anniversary this June 25, but although I am still one of the two bureaucrats -- local project managers -- I have lost some enthusiasm for the project.)
I guess all's fair in the world of business. Live and let live!
@apexto: Of course! But the open source advocates should be wary or they will find themselves with their dignity gone.
I find it laughable that open source advocates could be so zealous as to sound like religious fundamentalists when talking about Microsoft.
Seriously guys, it's not as if you're being sponsored by a criminal organization.
What's up with all the Microsoft hate? What's up with all this religiosity?
Granted: Microsoft DOES have issues vis-a-vis its treatment of open source then and now.
@jon: Hasn't Microsoft proved its greed in the past? What is the guarantee for us open source advocates that MS won't sh*t us?
It's not "Open" at all if it's selective....
Opensource should be all about love and passion, not hate. :)
Hi,
Just for the record -- Vibal Foundation is going to POSS, not Vibal Publishing House. WikiPilipinas is a project of the Foundation and not of the publishing company. We are two separate entities. Perhaps you might have bothered to verify these things first? In the interest of not being erroneous and all that. Keeps the record straight even for those of us who might not aspire to the same level of high-mindedness but whose intentions are nonetheless sincere.
We use open software in our projects and are advocates of open content and open knowledge. My talk in POSS will be about open source software for non-profit advocacies. A casual glance at the programme of POSS would have told you that establishing a commercial presence in the Summit is the last thing we want.
@tin,
And where have I ever wrote that Vibal Publishing House and not Vibal Foundation is going to the POSS? There is not even a clue from this post that I was talking about POSS :) (Granted, the idea for the post came about because of the POSS, but that's too much for you to assume from this post, right? I suspect you had been following my actions in other forums, which makes me proud and afraid at the same time :))
In the interest of fairness, you should not have assumed that I confuse the two entities, although, I admit, it's not very difficult to confuse the two. Or did you really expect this (confusion) from everyone?
Oh, my bad. I apologize for crediting your rhetorical flourishes with actual substance :) Your subtlety is wasted on my poor one-track mind, I'm afraid :) Perhaps you can exercise your obviously fine-tuned sense of discrimination with regard to WikiPilipinas? I know, how horrifying and distasteful, but just in case we might reach a certain rapproachement (is this unsubtle enough?). :)
As for ahem following your actions in forums, I beg you, please spare yourself the undue anxiety. I hate to think that we are inflicting so much disquiet upon you, on top of all the agonies that WikiPilipinas' existence has doubtless caused. :) So please, rest assured that we do not spend our time watching your every move. Nino told us that you were not attending POSS for 'ideological' reasons. Naturally I was curious since I had been advised that we were meeting you and other Cebu Wikipedians and followed his link. And, voila.
@tin: You answer my question of where I wrote that Vibal Publishing House and not Vibal Foundation is going to the POSS with a personal insult by questioning the substance of my ideological stand. Nice one. At least expose yourself publicly in such a light. And need I say that you always bring with you the fact that you are employeed by Vibal, well, Vibal Foundation? :)
The fact is, you thought I confuse Vibal Publishing House with Vibal Foundation. The truth is, I am not going to the POSS tomorrow because Microsoft will be there as well as Vibal, well, Vibal Foundation :)
And hey, don't hate the smilies :))))))))
Hey guys, cool down. :) PEACE!
I benefit/program on M$ (windows, .NET, mssql, etc) and Opensource (php, apache, mysql, etc), so I love them both. :)
Let's get back to the original topic, shall we? :)
I think, allowing commercial organizations won't hurt Opensource as long as everyone knows and fully understands what "Opensource" means and their licenses. :)
We really shouldn't care about M$ or Opensource, but rather on how to make Philippine IT progress and make it known to the world. :)
Hey Mark, she'll get mad by your replacing the S's with $'s :)
For me, the $ sign on "M$" means that they are financially successful and one of the richest companies in the world. :)
It doesn't mean anything bad at all. :)
@mark, good that you explained it before you are misunderstood. :)