Fwd: Please put something about software patents on main page now

[Telsa Gwynne <hobbit aloss ukuu org uk>]

I am not competent to drive this computer. Forwarded to correct address.
Maybe. One ought to work!

Didn't get a bounce from board-list though, so that maybe worked.

You can forget about replying if you read this after Thursday. 
Explanations about why this should not have been done after then
should probably go to foundation-list anyway.

----- Forwarded message from Telsa Gwynne <hobbit aloss ukuu org uk> -----

Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 00:28:40 +0100
From: Telsa Gwynne <hobbit aloss ukuu org uk>
To: gnome-web-admin gnome org, board-list gnome org
Subject: Please put something about software patents on main page now
Mail-Followup-To: gnome-web-admin gnome org, board-list gnome org
User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.1i

I only got back and read my mail to find the "please do something on
Wednesday" email (sent last week) from the FFII tonight. It actually
said "don't forward to public mailing lists", but the cat is well and
truly out of the bag now.

Please put a very prominent link on the Gnome.org website objecting
to software patents. We were all (mostly?) at guadec2 when RMS spoke
about this issue. It's coming up to the vote in the EU.

KDE is doing it. If you care, there are questions on Slashdot about
why Gnome is not. 

I am cc'ing the board in the hope of a "yes, do it" response from
two or three of them overnight. This can hardly wait for another
board meeting where everyone agrees to check back with their
respective employers.

An obvious reasons Gnome should care: what if MS patents Word file 
formats? Bang goes interop.

If various company people object, say "against stupid patents" or
something. But Gnome is going to look silly if it doesn't. We don't
have SuSE or Mandrake people on the board, but both companies are
sponsors of the related http://www.eurolinux.org (currently down --
see direct link instead: http://www.eurolinux.org/sponsors/index.en.html)
site. 

Yes, I'm a smelly hippie. Yes, I am aware that at least half the
companies which support Gnome have software patents. I don't care.
I don't think Gnome should.

Telsa


----- End forwarded message -----