Re: [Candidacy] Thomas Thurman

["Thomas Thurman" <tthurman gnome org>]

I did send this email to elections gnome org and
foundation-list gnome org, but in a conversation a short while later I
was convinced that I could best help the Foundation by not being on
the BoD; I cancelled the foundation-list posting and asked on
#sysadmin for the elections g o ticket to be killed, but clearly it
didn't happen in time. For the avoidance of doubt, I am not standing
in this election. Sorry for the confusion.

Thomas

On 17/11/2007, Baris Cicek <baris teamforce name tr> wrote:
> Announcement of Thomas Thurman, which is sent to elections gnome org 
> (#4039)
>
> ------------------------------------------------------
>
> Name: Thomas Thurman
> Mail: tthurman gnome org
> Nick: marnanel
> Affl: Devon IT, King of Prussia, PA, US
> Blog: http://marnanel.livejournal.com
> Biog: http://marnanel.org
>
> 75-word summary:
>
> I believe in freedom and respect, and that is why I use, create, and
> maintain free software; the last year as a GNOME developer has been
> full of new challenges for me, and I wish I had thought to help
> sooner. I want to find ways to help others find that path. After much
> thought over whether I should stand, I decided I could, and that the
> question of "should" was better left to you.
>
> The rest:
>
> I am passionate about freedom, and I am passionate about respect, and
> I believe these are two sides of the same coin. I have been using free
> software near-exclusively for around ten years, but I very much regret
> not having joined a free software project as large as GNOME sooner
> than I did. I want to help people become users of free software
> because it contributes to their autonomy. I want to help users become
> developers of free software because it contributes further to their
> autonomy. This is about freedom, and it is about respect.
>
> I have thought long and hard over whether to stand. I am acutely aware
> of how easily time can be squeezed away in volunteer work, and I know
> Metacity and FUSA can always use more. (Many of you know that I've
> also lost time in the last year to health issues, which have in the
> last few months responded well to treatment.) Much of the reason I am
> teaching my daughter to program-- and for many years when I lived in
> the UK I worked as a leader on a summer camp doing the same-- is the
> one I gave above, that a person is freer when they can maintain their
> own software, and that they become a more productive member of
> society; I want to encourage all our users to try to improve their
> software, to see that "free" doesn't mean "for nothing", to be more
> than just consumers. The Gnome Love programme is an inspiration and a
> challenge, and the only way we will grow is if people see our work as
> more than just a way of saving themselves a few quid. However you
> vote, let's rise to that challenge.
>
> As to who I am:
>
> Along with Elijah and Havoc, I maintain Metacity; I also maintain FUSA
> (the user switcher applet), but most of my efforts are directed
> towards Metacity at present. I also try to help out in small ways with
> internationalisation (I studied computational linguistics in grad
> school, for a while) in Britsh English and Welsh. I am a British
> citizen sharing a rather geeky house in the Philadelphia suburbs with
> two other grown-ups and one child. I have been fascinated with
> programming since I was seven, and been paid for doing it for about
> the last ten years. You can find a slightly out-of-date resume at
> <http://marnanel.org/resume>. If you want to know anything else, ask
> here, or come and find me on IRC.
>
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