[SWLUG] Alan's open letter

[Mark Summerfield]

On Tuesday 08 June 2004 00:35, swlug at azem.org wrote:
> On Monday 07 June 2004 3:07 pm, Dafydd Walters wrote:
> > There are just three more days until the EU elections, and I'm sure
> > almost everybody on this list has probably seen Alan Cox's open letter on
> > software patents and the EU election, but just in case there are folks
> > here who haven't, here's a link:
> >
> > http://www.linux.org.uk/open.l.html
> >
> > Regards,
> > Dafydd Walters.
>
> so, ok, i vote green,

I think that Alan's letter was slightly misleading. Although the voting
system is fairer than first past the post it is still very questionable
whether the smallest parties will get seats. So if you're going to vote
(and I certainly agree with Alan that we all should), surely the most
realistic approach is to vote for the anti-patent party that a) did best
in the previous election in your area,  and b) whose _other_ policies
you can live with. (For example, I wouldn't vote for a racist party or a
pro-war party even if they were the only anti-patents parties.)

> but what if this "small chance" doesnt prove true, what if software patents
> are passed. does this mean the end of GNU simply because Billy boy holds
> the patent to scrollbars and cursor shadows?
> If GNU goes tits up, what are the alternatives, back to UNIX??
> I use knoppix in many guises and custom isos as my daily os and also
> running on servers, am I to understand that this will stop?
> Is the end of the 'Brave GNU World' coming for Stallman?

I hardly think so. The US has had software patents for a long time, and
has horrible IP laws like the DMCA and free software still flourishes
over there. Of course there are constant threats like SCO, and some of
Linux's "friends" are heavily committed to patents (e.g. IBM), so there
are no guarantees. Ultimately we may find that the open source community
has to be more politically vocal.

But single interests can be protected. For example, look at the animal
rights movement (not the extremists, but the vast peaceful majority).
They have managed to get their issue onto the agenda of _all_ the major
parties: Labour promised to end fox hunting (OK they lied, but it was a
big step to even get it on the agenda), and in the Conservative leaflet
on the Euro election they're talking about how they opposed fur coats
made from cat and dog fur. So clearly the major parties feel that they
must somehow appease the animal rights people (even if their politicians
don't care one way or the other).

If we want to protect open source we need to persuade politicians (of
all persuasions) that we are active voters and that this issue is one
that will sway us. For parties like Labour, Conservative, Lib Dems, and
the minor right-wing parties we need to convince them that open source
is good for business. For left-wing parties we need to convince them
that open source is a matter of putting people first. And for all
parties we need to convince them that open source is the most economical
and best to use in the public sector. And of course open source software
is all these things.

-- 
Mark.