[fsf-community-team] Introduction

[Hans-Günter Lorenz]

Hello there,
throughout the last few days I have read all your introductions and intelligent answers to the excerpts and I'm asking myself, if I still can be of additional value to your team. Just let me know.

First of all, I'll introduce myself.
My name is Hans-Günter Lorenz, I'm 59 and don't understand any details associated with computers and its programming. I use them and my knowledge ends getting to work with the console on my Ubuntu OS.

I've got in touch with computers about the time when Richard Stallman was refused of getting access to the code for using a PDP10 by Digital Equipment Corp. for software development. I was even working for that company at that time as a sales person for all kind of service products in Germany , Europe and the US (maybe it was that early President Ken Olsen laid the cornerstone for the disappearance of his company a bit more than 10 years later). When PCs became office tools in the early 90s, for myself I didn't even consider to use anything other than M$s products. 
It changed, because >10 years of being the extended workbench of an ignorant manufacturer, making money out of my struggles and as well - myself became a bit more wise over time. 
Since 2006 I use Ubuntu - better than a replacement for what I experienced before - and by wanting to know where it comes from, I became introduced to the free software philosophy, which I fully support (if I had known back in the early 80s already, I would have had a word with Ken Olen, for sure).

I have not been active in any GNU/Linux community yet, because of its mostly technical orientation - and I'm not technical - I'm a user!
However, I could imagine to be part of a community, spreading the word of the FS-philosophy here in my home country and possibly in Europe; as long as in other countries my command of the English language is perceived as appropriate. A role I could imagine for myself would be to address mainstream media about the philosophy of FS. This would be pro- and reactive. I've noticed that most people volunteered for adressing IT-related media. Instead I would like to address mainstream media, i.e. in Germany Die Zeit, Der Spiegel, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Handelsblatt, Manager Magazin, etc..., but also Bildzeitung (don't laugh, the bite has to be liked by the fish not by the fishermen). If those names don't mean anything to you, just put them into your search engine (no - not google - they'll follow you), most of them provide their content in English as well.

The issues out of the excerpts given by you to be addressed do all have also a somewhat philosophical aspect as well and could also be addressed this way, rather than just arguing on a basis of practicability, functionality, superiority and so on.

* Excerpt: When combined with the other chapters that include
statutory damages, search and seizure powers for border guards,
anti-camcording rules, and mandatory disclosure of personal
information requirements, it is clear that there is no bigger
intellectual property issue today than the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade
Agreement being negotiated behind closed doors this week in Korea.

What is/was going on behind closed doors in South-Korea is part of the desperate activities of industries, aknowledging that with the internet a technology has evolved putting thei traditional business model at stake. In such a case one does have two choices: you either start to understand what's happening and adopt your business model accordingly or you deploy an authority (i.e. government) to protect you. The first one is also known in the the business world by the term "if you can't beat them, join them!" This has proven to be succesfull in many cases, e.g. wheel vs.carry yourself, movable letters vs. handwriting, cars vs. horse carriages, etc. The second one has proven to provide wealth for a few and dependency on them for the others. But, luckily it's just a matter of time. Darwin (o.k., that might have to be proven for some as well) has shown evolution has not been stopped, by any int'l treaty signed. An old Chinese saying is: When the wind gets stronger some build windmills the others build walls!

For not having to wait that long, for us it requires the ones who know about it, to spread the word about the hidden agendas, camouflaged with the term of "intellectual" property" (I wonder how they want to protect their castle in the air, I have one too, didn't ask them if I'm allowed and still won't get sued). Governments have to be told and to understand that by giving in into the demands of industries, who are not capable of dealing with a changing business environment, they will make themselves the lackey of these industries. In the end, our changing society becomes a society of criminals, controlled by the government on behalf of the industries.

Patents, copyrights and trademarks, as they are established as of today, have to be revised. When people started out to establish those rights in the first place it certainly was not obvious to them how one would apply them to a complexity of, e.g. of the music industry. It might have been even less obvious to them, what impact it might have, when restricting the development of a humanitarian society for securing food, clean water and health. The ACTA treaty, as it is negotiated as of today, prepares for a divide in all our cultures.

* Excerpt: Now with cloud computing and web-based applications,
even Linux users can use the same software as everyone else, through
their browsers. With other popular programs like Skype and Adobe Flash
producing Linux versions, the Linux desktop may finally be catching
on!

Yes!
As long as this user wants to be locked into a product, that doesn't leave the choice of how to deal with it - it's true.
But, who would give up his/her freedom voluntarily? Plenty of Free Software is available, providing same or better functionality, higher security levels and not acting like a magnet for all the criminal attempts the market leader is dealing with (poorly, however).
Anyhow, cloud computing is what we'd call "old wine in new skins". In the very beginning of IT, before the desktop revolution, there was a so called "System 360" of IBM. Those Machine was one cloud only, but would serve any requested application needed in a company. As long as it was made available by the internal IT-department. The next generation of IT was, to get the computing power to where it is needed: to the desk. A very valuable approach, leaving behind, what was called mainframe and building new revenue models. To increase todays revenue opportunities you can either compete in the given or you come up with something revolutionary, like cloud computing (see above). So, everything gets centralized again. I would be curious in probably seeing a 3270 emulation again.

Maybe it's already the answer to patent/copyright infringement. It would be interesting to know, how much of the profit of a manufacturer of proprietary software has to spend to prevent a collision with their  interest? To grant access to external applications only would reduce that risk for them significantly, I would guess.


 * Excerpt: Richard Stallman started the FSF in order to promote
open source software like the Linux operating system, as an
alternative to expensive software like Windows.

First,
there's no such thing as a "Linux operating system" The OS you are most likely referring to is called GNU/Linux (the abbreviation stands for GNU=GNU is not UNIX and the (L)inux Torwald Kernel, developed by himself and being put together by the two of them for the combination of an operating system (GNU) and the kernel of Linux.

Second,
it actually had nothing to do with Windows at all. It didn't even exist at this point in time (o.k., at least not commercially available; it was the era of MS-DOS instead).

Third
The FSF had been founded since it became obvious to Richard Stallmann, that there wouldn't be any one of the leading SW/HW players at that point in time, making freely available what they had chosen to be their business model. Instead he understood the ethical impact of the behavior of the industry, locking away vital knowledge from societies, controlling its use and making it selectively available to people who would be able to pay for it, only.
This was the reason for founding the FSF, providing a frame (GNU/GPL GeneralPublicLicense) to guarantee the developments covered by it, would be available to everyone, could be used by everyone could be altered by everyone, distributed by and to everyone and therefore -  would be FREE of any obligation. In most cases FS has turned out to be gratis too and has proven to react much quicker to any security hazard, since hundreds of thousands of developing people around the world, committed to FSF/GNU/GPL, are not committed to anyone else's commercial success and the questionable protection of this work by current law.
One thing should be mentioned, which might not be seen as  being totally free. This is, once a GPLed development is being utilized by anyone else, the one is NOT allowed to alter the associated rights with it. But I think, that's a good restriction!

ps: I'd rather liked to use my own language, since one never will be able to replace its mothertongue, but I hope it'll do.

Best regards

--
Hans-Günter Lorenz <address@hidden>

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