Question for TLUGgers: How can Canada take a leading role in FOSS?

[Christopher Browne]

On 4/2/06, Aaron Vegh <aaronvegh-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> >
> > Harnessing the mind of a nation is an engineering problem, so it's not
> > insurmountable.
>
> Hilarious! I know I'm among kindred spirits when a quote like this
> makes sense to me.
>
> Scott, I believe that conditions change for the better in other
> countries because a group of citizens form a successful lobby group,
> and after a campaign of public awareness and letter-writing, for
> example, they successfully influence policy.
>
> Waiting for the Green Party to make it into office is a fool's game: I
> like them as well as anyone but in Canada we're in for a long wait.

Actually, the governance challenges they have apparently been facing,
of late, are very similar to what a "Canadian FSF" would have to
address...  I gather that they have fallen into a trap where the party
leader needs to be able to overcome democratic process within the
party...

> Much better to rally the support of as many like-minded individuals as
> we can, and start a foundation, a Canadian FSF for example. It's not
> rocket science:
>
> - A small group of us would act as organizers and strategists.
> - We would decide on a course of action that would result in us
> achieving our goals.
> - The majority of the membership would assist in getting those actions
> accomplished.

The problem with that is political, one of governance.

Who is it that decides on the course of action?  Who decides which
"wannabe-FSF" organization winds up being The One???

Richard Stallman leads the FSF quite compellingly out of the fact that
he is very much a "prophetic figure."  The near-joke is that he's the
"Pope" of Free Software, and the excruciating care with which he tends
to speak fits with the "ex-cathedra" notion of the authoritativeness
of papal statements.

There is also a relevant analogy to be drawn to another religious
figure, John the Baptist; Stallman spent years essentially alone in
his belief in "the cause" as, as it were, "a voice crying in the
wilderness", seeking that people prepare to use free software.

He has authority out of the fact that he was the one "crying in the
wilderness" for so many years.

An attempt to found a Canadian FSF would founder almost certainly as
there isn't anyone with a comparable level of monomania that would be
the clear authority.  Regionalism would further fragment this, as
there is no satisfactory place to found the organization.  Why
shouldn't someone in Calgary start another foundation that represents
them?  Ditto for Montreal.

> We have, on this list, some of the smartest people anywhere. It would
> be a shame if we couldn't harness that group intelligence to do some
> good for our society.

The trouble is that politics is HARD...
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