of Hackers, Newbies and Fanboys

[David J Patrick]

On 09/02/07, Marcel Gagne <mggagne-oUREY1nl/XXQT0dZR+AlfA at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>
> Hello David,
>
> I intended to reply in private but since you mentioned my name publicly, I'll
> make my reply public as well.
I'm sorry, Marcel, if you've been dragged into laundry day with the
whole "David, please tell me you weren't part of this..." subject
line.
> Before you accuse Marcel of negative comments, read Marcel's email on this
> subject a second time. I've said frightfully little on this subject
I have re-read the threads and it seems I have over-reacted in
assuming that you and the original poster were shoulder to shoulder,
on this one. My very public apology, for that. It might have been
better had the original post been sent to me privately.
>
> I said that IF the author of the CRN Canada article (who suggested attendees
> were looking to trespass, disrupt, and cause property damage) was right in
> what he overheard, then I believe it was an amazingly bad idea.
The CRN story was amazingly wrong. Andrew McKay was in the room, but
failed to eavesdrop with any degree of accuracy. Had he spoken up, we
would have happily told him what we were up to.

> I still think
> that any event attended by Free Software enthusiasts that involves
> trespassing on someone else's property and causing harm is a bad idea and I
> won't back down from that point. I did, however, also suggest that talk
> of "starting a fire" in the ice house, could just as easily be just that,
> talk. Guys sitting around chatting over a beer or coffee have been known to
> posture and make suggestions they would never carry out.
I certainly agree that there lines that should not be crossed, but the
grate between Dundas Sq and the sidewalk is not one of them.
>
> I resent any suggestion that I stand in the way of Linux and open source
> advocacy or that what I do is meant to somehow derail its progress. I have
> put more work, energy, and enthusiasm into helping bring Linux and open
> source into the mainstream than most and I'll hold my record up to yours any
> day.
No need, Marcel, I concede !
Your contributions are undeniable. I was reading your articles long
before I had dreamed of linuxcaffe and have nothing but respect for
you and your work.
>
> If you are offended by my warnings that breaking the law, trespassing, and
> causing property damage are somehow barriers to open source advocacy, then
> you've got some explaining to do.
Your warnings were so far off the mark, in this case, that they were
irrelevant. I think we can all agree that crime is not a viable option
in our quest for Software Freedom. We'll leave that to the
super-villains.

> Still see this as a problem?
not with you, amigo, but if we can't cleanse our collective palate of
any inter-LUG bitterness, we'll never taste the sweetness of real
co-operation.

The ubuntu-toronto volunteers made direct contact with hundreds of
pedestrians, who walked away with CDs and or info sheets. Dozens of
gleeful photos were takenwith Big Tux, some by wild linux geeks, some
by folks who thought the penguin was cute. Thousands of Torontonians
saw a giant linux penguin, that weekend, and even the police officers
at the event left with CDs and new ideas about their personal software
choices. Tens of thousands of unique web visitors (and counting) so
all in all, I think it it was a success. No crimes were committed, no
harm done, and anything said beyond what we did was merely that; silly
talk between friends in (what we thought was) private. Let's just have
a giggle, pat the fanboyzandgrrlz on the back, recognize each others
strengths and weaknesses, and move on to something... even MORE
outrageous !
;-)
djp

-- 
djp-tnsZcVQxgqO2dHQpreyxbg at public.gmane.org
www.linuxcaffe.ca
geek chic and caffe cachet
326 Harbord Street,
Toronto, M6G 3A5,
(416) 534-2116
--
The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://gtalug.org/
TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://gtalug.org/wiki/Mailing_lists