Re: [Fsfe-uk] Just a Minute

[hobbit]

Clearly I missed an eventful meeting. Sorry. I was still travelling
at the time.

> What I was trying to say was, that when we campaign against Software
> Patents, we should use arguments that do not rely on the listener
> believing that Free Software is a good thing before they can accept the
> argument.
>> 
> In fact, when campaigning against Software Patents, no link to Free
> Software should be made at all.
...
> BTW I didn't originate this theory --- it seems to have paid dividends
> for the EuroLinux folks, and they are adamant about the importance of
> not drawing a link between opposition of Software Patents and support of
> Free Software.

Eurolinux aren't the only people to have come to this conclusion.

I've been hearing it from places as varied as people into the 
W3C (who have a patents policy, and point out that they're one of
the few organisations to have one: IETF doesn't, for example);
a BOF (birds of a feather) meeting on open standards at a conference;
and various people who read the UK and European Patent Office
conclusions on the last round of consultations. If you read those,
it's very clear that "open source supporters" are seen as a single
group opposing due to beliefs; and that those beliefs are flawed:
"after all, open source is alive and well in the US, which has software
patents. Therefore it's not a valid concern" is the general thrust.
They'll just dismiss it with exactly that argument.

Now, small businesses: they'll listen to those...

Telsa