[IAEP] FSF attitude to xo and sugar

[Sean DALY]

Sugar Labs suffers from OLPC's lack of interest in press
communications and in combating misperceptions (in particular the
wholly inaccurate meme that XO-1s are delivered with Windows).
Although we manage to get mostly positive coverage for Sugar, it's two
steps forward, one step back when OLPC doesn't respond to journalists
and in particular when Professor Negroponte makes confusing statements
about Sugar. It's my wish to find someone at OLPC willing to work with
me to improve their public image, which can only be beneficial to both
projects.

I have interviewed Mr. Stallman several times in the past and will
brief him on the current situation. I don't know if he wrote the
actual copy in question.

Sean


On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 8:01 PM, Edward Cherlin<echerlin at gmail.com> wrote:
> I am in personal contact with Stallman (rms) on this. Who else here
> knows him? We have met several times at computing events, and
> discussed other questions in e-mail. I was a factor in his choice of
> the XO as his main computer, which unfortunately lasted only a short
> time, because he was unaware that Nicholas had Mitch working on a
> GPLed BIOS replacement.
>
> rms is talking nonsense still, but there remains the possibility of
> progress. I'll let you know more if I hear anything positive. Our
> correspondence will appear in OLPC News as an Open Letter with
> whatever followup is appropriate.
>
> I have looked through the rest of this thread. I don't have time to
> reply in detail, but I have raised all of these issues with rms, and
> asked him why he won't take Yes for an answer. ^_^
>
> You should understand that _we_, all of us, have failed to communicate
> with the public, with the press, and with our natural allies. It isn't
> just Nicholas. We need a way to put out press releases when Nicholas
> says something dumb, or the Wall Street Journal runs a completely
> false op-ed about our work. We should be able to get a pro bono
> account at PR Newswire or some such service.
>
> On Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 2:33 AM, Bill Kerr<billkerr at gmail.com> wrote:
>> n Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 7:20 AM, Walter Bender <walter.bender at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> === Sugar Digest ===
>>
>> 4. The recent FSF campaign condemning the use of Windows 7 in
>> education (See http://windows7sins.org/) imputes OLPC in complicity
>> with Microsoft. It is disappointing that the FSF is not making any
>> constructive arguments in favor of free software alternatives to
>> Windows such as Sugar on GNU/Linux, which is currently shipped on
>> every machine distributed by OLPC.
>>
>> http://windows7sins.org/#1
>> When I first saw it I interpreted that page as contrasting the xo as a
>> positive alternative to Windows (and still think that is a valid
>> interpretation)
>> When I read what walter wrote above later I was shocked to realise that it
>> could indeed be interpreted the way walter has, as well
>> On revisiting I can't see any clarifying text there
>> If walter's interpretation is the correct one, which may well be true, then
>> it's a bad choice of graphic - they should have shown windows running on the
>> xo screen,  not happy smiling children
>> from this 2008 article RMS is supportive of sugar but ambivalent about the
>> xo:
>>
>> Sugar is free software, and contributing to it is a good thing to do. But
>> don't forget the goal: helpful contributions are those that make Sugar
>> better on free operating systems. Porting to Windows is permitted by the
>> license, but it isn't a good thing to do
>>
>> http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/can-we-rescue-olpc-from-windows
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>
>
>
> --
> Edward Mokurai Cherlin
> Silent Thunder (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) is my name, and
> Children are
> my nation. The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
> http://earthtreasury.org/
> _______________________________________________
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