Re: Statement by SFLC (was Re: Wasting our Freedom)

["Lars Noodén" <larsnooden@openoffice.org>]

Thanks for the detailed response.  There have also been some very
articulate and fact-oriented responses here from the OpenBSD Misc list
as well.

I will repeat and elaborate on what I wrote in my first response which I
gave the subject "Divide and conquer (was Re: Wasting our Freedom)"

Although there are some valid concerns regarding workflow between
projects of different licensing families,  keep in mind that

	1) a license (ie. GPL, BSD, or other) is simply another tool

	2) some outside FOSS would like nothing better than
	to divide FOSS up and set the factions against each other

Intentional trolls (agent provacateur) are part of the bag of tricks
available to the political groups that have much to gain by playing the
various FOSS projects off against each other.  Various political parties
and factions, not the least of which is MS, lose out if we use our time
effectively or if the general public start to understand and apply
principles that make for sound, secure, and interoperable systems.

Bickering with or harranging the FSF, OBSD, or any other project is less
useful than coding, documenting, debugging (even workflow debugging) or
teaching.  It plays right into MS' media strategy of "Saturate, Diffuse,
and Confuse" by filling up the communications channels with noise, thus
drowning or diluting the useful material and burning out the casual
observer.  One of the common tactics seen again and again, including in
this case, is the re-circulation of outdated and incorrect sources.

Some of the people doing the bickering may just be plainly and simply
less than knowledgeable and further handicapped by inability to express
themselves.  Others may just be 'tards easily goading into action by an
agent provacateur and, unless proven otherwise, should be treated as the
first group.

Regards,
-Lars