[Gllug] Fwd: [opensuse] Invitation to OpenSUSE developers

[Peter Cannon]

Hi All

This has just been sent to the OpenSuSE mailing list It might be of interest?

----------  Forwarded Message  ----------

Subject: [opensuse] Invitation to OpenSUSE developers
Date: Friday 24 November 2006 18:16
From: Mark Shuttleworth <mark at ubuntu.com>
To: opensuse at opensuse.org, opensuse-project at opensuse.org

Novell’s decision to go to great lengths to circumvent the patent
framework clearly articulated in the GPL has sent shockwaves through the
community. If you are an OpenSUSE developer who is concerned about the
long term consequences of this pact, you may be interested in some of
the events happening next week as part of the Ubuntu Open Week:

  https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuOpenWeek

We are hosting a series of introductory sessions for people who want to
join the Ubuntu community - in any capacity, including developers and
package maintainers. If you want to find out how Ubuntu works, how to
contribute or participate, or how to get specific items addressed, there
will be something for you. I’ll also be on IRC on Tuesday 28th to answer
any questions you may have of me specifically, such as Luis’ questions
about our position on software patents at
http://tieguy.org/blog/2006/11/22/and-ubuntus-patent-stand/

There are a couple of sessions that would be particularly interesting
for folks familiar with OpenSUSE. The Kubuntu team is hosting some
events during the week to look at KDE and Ubuntu and to discuss the
roadmap of their project. There are also a few events being hosted by
the Ubuntu Desktop team’s, which I think should include some discussion
of the ideas that came from the recent Ubuntu Developer Summit in
Mountain View. There are a couple of Packaging 101 and Package
Maintenance sessions too, specifically for developers.

Ubuntu is structured to empower our community to get things done, and to
maximise the opportunity for collaboration between teams that share a
common vision (even if it’s not 100% of their vision, such as between
the Gnome, KDE and XFCE desktop teams). While we’re always open to new
members, we thought it would be a good idea to identify a dedicated week
where new members would be the focus for our whole project.

If you have an interest in being part of a vibrant community that cares
about keeping free software widely available and protecting the rights
of people to get it free of charge, free to modify, free of murky
encumbrances and “undisclosed balance sheet liabilities”, then please do
join us.

I know that posting this message to an OpenSUSE list will be
controversial. I'm greatly respectful of the long tradition of
excellence in the SuSE product and community and have no desire to
undermine that with this post. That said, I think the position taken by
Novell leadership in their contract with Microsoft is hugely
disrespectful of the contributions of thousands of GPL programmers and
contributors to SuSE, and I know that many are looking for a new place
to get involved that is not subject to the same arbitrary executive
intervention. Ubuntu is one option, as are Gentoo, Debian and other
communities. Please accept this mail in that spirit.

Mark


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-- 
Regards
Peter Cannon
www.cannon-linux.co.uk
MSN:peter at cannon-linux.co.uk

"There is every excuse for not knowing
there is no excuse for not asking"
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