Bonum Certa Men Certa

“Twisted Ideological Crusade” and Other Excuses

Free software versus fee software is not 'ideological' debate

In-place upgrades are challenging not only under Windows (high failure rate in XP-to-Vista migrations), but also in other operating systems. The complexity and diversity of systems, especially with added software and hacks, makes upgrades a tricky task that's prone to breakage. When deciding to upgrade any GNU/Linux distribution, it is a wise idea to make complete backups first.



Why are we mentioning all of this? Well, upgrade issues which Bill Beebe was experiencing (Adam from Mandriva already rebuts) left him bitter and willing to try OpenSUSE, which he used many times before.

I already had OpenSUSE 11.1 RC on CD, so I figured "why not?" I dropped the CD into the drive, booted into the live desktop, and started an install. It has been some time since I installed OpenSUSE, let alone worked with it. I wasn't sure what to expect, but the experience turned out to be pretty straightforward and fast. In particular I found that the OpenSUSE installer wanted to view my drives and partitions in the same order that Mandriva 2008.1 (and everything else up to that point) had seen them. The only difference being that the hda/hdb labels were replaced with sda/sdb, and the older sda SATA drive was now sdc.


In a shining display of sour grapes, Bill then decided to justify or defend his new choice of a distribution, excusing Novell, Microsoft and SUSE all at the same time.

The release Thursday of OpenSUSE 11.1 RC 'incited' me to download the KDE-based Open CD version and give it a spin. I've been tracking KDE 4.1 across three distributions (Mandriva 2009, Fedora 10, and OpenSUSE). I tried Kubuntu 8.10 and immediately rebooted my system and threw the CD in the trash. Kubuntu in any version is one of the worst ways to experience KDE (version 3 or version 4).

[...]

And then there are the conspiracy nuts led by Boycott Novell, who would have you believe that OpenSUSE's prime sponsor, Novell, is the Little Satan to Microsoft's Great Satan because of the business agreement Novell and Microsoft entered two years ago. Well, I have a few clues for Messieurs Coyle and Schestowitz; (1) Microsoft isn't going anywhere, and neither is Novell for that matter, and (2) OpenSUSE should be evaluated on technical merit, not some twisted ideological crusade based on distorted and contrived facts.


So due to an error that could be prevented, Bill chose the American distro owned by Microsoft's ally over the European one that proudly rejected racketeering and now there's a search for reasoning. A day or two ago, Sam Varghese wrote about the role of Mandriva in Europe after SUSE had been grabbed by a proprietary software company from the United States.

Among the many distributions which have an European heritage, SUSE and Mandriva were the two best known. Once SUSE fell into American hands, with its purchase by Novell in 2003, there was a gap opened for Mandriva to fill on the European continent.


Anivar Aravind has already explained why Novell is a sinner, at least in India. GNU India has tried to gently distance itself from unnecessary friction using a FAQ, but it was reported to us that this text got watered down for 'political' reasons and it is accessible only to members now (it wasn't the case on December 1st). For future reference, we reproduce a copy below, as permitted (fetched from Google cache).




Board statement on recent issues



1. Who organised the First National Conference on Free Software held in Andra Pradesh in 2007?

As part of FSF India's effort to strengthen the free software movement in AP, FSF India has been working closely with free software activists there. Initiatives like Swecha took place as part of that. FSF India Director, Mr Kiranchandra provided the leadership for the activities in Andhra Pradesh. Based on his suggestion and his initiative, FSF India decided to organise a national convention of free software activists. Under his leadership, FSF India worked with other organisations like University of Hyderabad and Swecha to conduct the first national convention. A committed group of Swecha activists, academicians from Universities like Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) and Osmania University ( OU) in-association with University of Hyderabad actively involved in the first national conference.

However due to the inexperience of the local organisers, the valedictory session became a platform for anti-free software propaganda. Some of the speakers invited for the valedictory session used the opportunity to spread messages against Free Software. Though other speakers like Dr. Nagarjuna did try to correct the misinformation, the damage could not, obviously, be fully undone.

A free software event should support the free software cause, and that also means not lending its platform to the opponents of free software.



Those opponents have lots of money, and hold far more events than we do, in which they promote their ideas. They are not entitled to neuter our events by becoming speakers there.

Website of the conference is available here:

http://web.archive.org/web/20071216052848/http://nationalconvention.swecha.org/WordPress/

http://web.archive.org/web/20070305053215/nationalconvention.swecha.org/WordPress/?page_id=2

 

2. Was the "National Free Software Conference" in Kochi a follow-up to the conference held in Hydrabad in 2007?

 No, it cannot be considered so. FSF India came to know about the `Second National Conference in Kochi` only when the organisers started sending mails to various fora about the conference. We were surprised to see this because FSF India was one of the organisers of the first conference in Hyderabad. We tried to communicate with the organisers of the conference in Kochi and clarify the situation. The facts will be clear from the communications we had with them in that regard that we are publishing now.



After the communications from FSF India, the organisers removed the reference to the first national convention organised by FSF India and renamed the convention in Kochi as simply the 'National Free Software Conference'.

The Organisers of the event continued to refer to their event misleadingly as the followup to the first convention organised in Hydrabad by FSF India, jointly with Swecha and University of Hyderabad.

You can see our communications with the organisers of Kochi conference here.

3. Is FSF India planning to start local chapters in every state?

 FSF India does not have any plan to form local chapters. FSF India is not a mass based organisation. We encourage Free Software Users Groups, GNU/Linux Users Groups and similar other initiatives to come up in every state and we would like to work with them and support them. We are planning to announce a policy for this soon.



We have directly helped to initiate FSUG Banglore, FSF AP (we now realise that this name can be misleading), Swecha, SPACE etc. We also work with many other organisations.

4. What is the relation between FSF India and FSF TN that was inaugurated at a conference in Chennai recently?

 In the website of the Freedom and Software conference held at Chennai on September 21, 2008, it was originally announced that FSF TN would be inaugurated. FSF India does not have any relation with this FSF TN. Based on the information that was available on the website announcing the conference and FSF TN, we wrote to them about our objection to the use of FSF India's logo (the image of a wheel) without permission and the confusion that arose through the use of a name similar to FSF India's. We are yet to hear from them. But they eventually changed their name to Free Software Team Tamil Nadu.

Website of Freedom and Software conference:
http://sites.google.com/site/freedomandsoftware/Home/

Letter from FSF India to TN organizers



 



5. What is FSF India's position with CPI(M) or any political parties for that matter?

 
As a parliamentary democracy, political parities play an important role in the policy formation process in India. FSF India wants to influence public policy on the ICT sector to promote software freedom. In order to achieve this, we work with all the political parties in India. CPI(M) was the first political party to provide policy level support to the Free Software movement. We continue to work with them to further the cause of software freedom. CPI(M) has been positive in its support for Free Software, for instance, in clearly promoting Free Software and its ideals in its ICT policy in Kerala.

However this must not be seen as any political endorsement from FSF India to any political party. We may criticise the party if it promotes non-free software, and we have done so in the past too. It may be noted that we have been vocal about both supporting and objecting to the policies of CPI(M) led governments. For example, we supported the Kerala Education department for promoting free software while we protested when the IKM promoted proprietary software in Kerala or the West Bengal government adopted proprietary software in its schools.

6. What is the position of FSF India on the campaign against Novell?

 FSF India does not have a campaign against Novell. We share the concerns raised by the boycott Novell campaign. While Novell is making contribution to free software, many of Novell's actions put the free software community's and the users' freedom at risk.



7. What is FSF India's position on the protest held in Kochi during the free software conference?

 FSF India condemns the attack on free software activists who were criticizing Novell in a nonviolent and legitimate way.

Two of the FSF India board members, Dr V. Sasikumar and Mr M. Arun, joined other free software activists to protest against man-handling of peaceful free software campaigners. This protest was also stopped by authorities in an authoritarian and undemocratic manner.

It is a shame that an event held in the name of software freedom acted against the freedom of expression of the attendees. This is a lesson to the community for the future. We should keep the words of Shri Rabindranath Tagore in mind:

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;

Where knowledge is free;



Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;

Where words come out from the depth of truth;

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;



Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action--

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.



-- Rabindranath Tagore

8. Who can speak on behalf of FSF India?



 The Secretary is normally the official spokesperson of FSF India. But any member of the Board may speak on behalf of the Foundation. However, it may be noted that such statements by any member of the Board, including the Secretary, may be considered as the official statement of the Board only if it is specifically mentioned so.

FSF India board members and employees may have their own opinion on various issues. These opinions are not the opinions of FSF India. Only those decisions, discussed and approved by the Director Board of FSF India, are the opinions of FSF India. We have always tried to clearly distinguish between these when we make public statements. For instance, this FAQ is a statement from the Board.

9. Are the members of the Director Board of FSF India elected?

 The members of the Director Board of FSF India are nominated by the existing Board based on the commitment of the person to the philosophy of Free Software and his/her clarity about the same. As mentioned in the answer to an earlier question, FSF India is not a mass movement and is not a democratic organisation. The purpose of FSF India, as of FSF, is to provide guidance to the Free Software movement. This purpose could be easily defeated if it is made into an elected body.

10. Can any one hijack FSF India ?

 The structure described above makes that very difficult.



11) Are there organisations from which FSF India will not accept support?

 FSF India is willing to accept monetary or other support from any source so long as it comes without any strings attached. FSF India reserves the right to criticise any organisation that, according to it, acts against the interests of the Free Software movement, irrespective of whether they have been supporting FSF India in any manner. Any organisation that believes in the philosophy of Free Software and is willing to contribute in terms of funds or other kind of support is invited to contribute without in any way influencing the functioning of FSF India.

We take care, when accepting donations, not to become dependent on them being repeated.

(Approved by the Director Board of FSF India)

Please send feedback to gnu@gnu.org.in

Copyright ۩ 2002-2006 Free Software Foundation of India.

Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Slop Nihilism is Funded by Big Oil
Eventually human civilisation will destroy itself
Professor Eben Moglen Recovering From Open Heart Surgery
From his public pages (this is not secret)
There Are Red Hat (IBM) Layoffs, But Google News is Infested With Slopfarms
It contributes a lot to misinformation and it encourages plagiarism
USA Not a Place for Free Speech
In America, as in the US, the attacks seem more enhanced or advanced these days
 
Gemini Links 17/09/2025: Flashing LineageOS and ROOPHLOCH
Links for the day
Links 17/09/2025: Long COVID Study, "Exposing Pegasus", and Chatbots Exposing Sensitive Data
Links for the day
Links 17/09/2025: Secret Settlement for Internet Archive and Google’s LLM Slop Summaries Attracting Lawsuits
Links for the day
The True Cost of 'Generative Models'
Funded and promoted by the companies that profit from the waste
'Big Slop' Attacks Contemporary Information/Knowledge and Creative Works, 'Big Copyright' (Cartel) Attacks the Old
Someone at IA will hopefully "blow the whistle" on what they actually agreed
Why We Find It Difficult to Trust Rust
A comparison between C/C++ and Rust
Watching the OSI: Our Series Will Carry on Irrespective of the Chief's 'Resignation'
the OSI isn't even the real guardian of the term "Open Source"
Just What LibreOffice Needs? Another Language? (Rust)
what's all this concern about memory safety?
Many Microsoft Managers Are Leaving
"Hey hi" chaff or chaff about "hey hi" cannot eternally distract from the difficulties inside the company
Tomorrow, Microsoft's Tim Anderson's 'The Register MS' Offshoot Will Have Been Inactive for 2 Months (There's Also a Slop Problem)
We've already caught The Register MS using LLM slop for articles
Microsoft's Chief Legal Officer Leaves Microsoft After Nearly 30 Years
And not retiring
Even Windows Users Are Having Problems With "Secure Boot"
When it comes to security - Microsoft strives for the very opposite
Another Competition Crime of Microsoft, Long Facilitated and Advocated by a Bad Actor, Who is Funded by a Third Party to Commit Extortion Against People Who Have Correctly and Repeatedly Warned About It for Over 13 Year
We must always go back to the core issues
3 More Reasons to Replace Mozilla Firefox With LibreWolf
Thankfully there are de-enshittified versions of Firefox
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 16, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 16, 2025
Links 17/09/2025: Google Layoffs in "Hey Hi" (AI), Perplexity Hit With More "Hey Hi" (Plagiarism) Lawsuits
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/09/2025: Reclaiming Things in a Digital Age and Moon Phases in CGI
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Google News is Slop, Google News is Plagiarism, Google News is Dying
Google is off the rails
Links 16/09/2025: "The Censorship Alarm Is Ringing in the Wrong Direction" and ASRock Does Microsoft E.E.E. on GNU/Linux
Links for the day
Serious "Breach of Confidentiality of Personal Data" in Europe's Second-Largest Institution, the EPO
Yes, the same EPO that routinely uses "data protection" and "GDPR" as a pretext for hiding or covering up its corruption and white-collar crimes (it even uses that as an excuse for refusing to obey courts' orders)
Adrienne Rockenhaus Says Her Husband Was Arrested for Running Tor and Denied Basic Rights in the United States
the US seems to be getting "russified" in its approach towards Tor
This is What Happens When Microsoft Canonical Lets Decisions on Ubuntu be Made by a Youngster From the British Army (Where He Did Mass Surveillance)
"Is Ubuntu Compromised?"
Back Doored Windows Giving GNU/Linux a Hard Time (Under the Guise of 'Security')
Is this complication intentional? Most likely, yes
Links 16/09/2025: Science, Security, and Conflicts
Links for the day
Gemini Links 16/09/2025: Command-line Options in POSIX Shell and Introducing Acre 0.9
Links for the day
Microsoft 'Secure' Boot Versus Dual Boot With GNU/Linux
they're meant to assume everything is OK
Links 16/09/2025: While Oracle Pretends to be Rich It's Firing About 70 MySQL Workers, "Oracle's Revenge" (Faking Demand With "AI")
Links for the day
Microsoft Has Just Published a New Web Page About "Secure Boot Update Process" (Microsoft Also Admits Issues; PCs Can Stop Booting)
Why was this page issued and published only hours ago?
Microsoft Lunduke: I Spread Hate and Then I Receive Hate
Cry us a river, Microsoft Lunduke
"Use Wayland" Isn't a Bugfix for X (X11 is Still Necessary)
They tell us X is "dead" and we must all be herded into Wayland ASAP
"Disable Secure Boot and Fast Boot. Wipe and Start Over."
At least they didn't say, buy a new computer...
The Oracle Ponzi Scheme
Oracle isn't doing well, but it's nowadays fashionable to say "clown" and "hey hi" to prop up one's stock, even based on nothing at all
The New Head of OSI is an "Hey Hi" (AI) Obsessed Person
when Bryant says "AI" that doesn't mean AI
Taking Out the Battery, Opening Up Your Computer, Just Like a "Normie" Would
At this stage, any person who still says "enable Secure Boot" is misguided or persuaded by companies that sell rootkits
Slopwatch: Serial Sloppers and Slopfarms Still Infesting Google News (Fake 'Articles' About "Linux" Spreading FUD)
searching for "Linux" today yields a lot of FUD
"Governments, local authorities, schools and hospitals can lead by example by procuring only Free Software"
Crossposted from Tux Machines
Cindy Cohn Leaving the Electronic Frontier Foundation While Its Co-founder John Gilmore, Whom She Apparently Helped Oust, Will Celebrate 40 Years of the Free Software Foundation, Inc.
EFF has been busy hoarding GAFAM money, whereas the latter is where all the real activism is done
The Reach of Techrights Has Broadened
We nowadays cover a broader range of issues
"Google is Googlebombing KDE's Project Banana"
So is Google googlebombing KDE's Project Banana? You decide.
Complicating Things for No Actual Benefit, Just Added Risk and More Difficulties Adding GNU/Linux and BSDs
Watch what it's like for people who wish to use BSDs
Some Very Large IRC Networks Are Growing
IRC will turn 38 next year
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 15, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 15, 2025
Links 16/09/2025: Autumn Party, RPG Planet, and Optical ROOPHLOCH
Links for the day
Geminispace Growing at Pace of Over 10% Per Year
Contrary to what some pessimists try to claim
Linux Mint Forums Today: Disable 'Secure Boot', It Doesn't Improve Security, It's Just a Microsoft Obstacle to GNU/Linux Users
They also mention MOK
What Ruben Amorim and Stefano Maffulli Have in Common
Censors Wikipedia and Social Control Media
Microsoft Won't Cooperate in Trying to Tackle EPO Corruption (Microsoft Profits From This Corruption)
Use something like BigBlueButton, Jami, Ring, and Jitsi instead
Solved Less Than an Hour Ago: Trying to Escape Windows, 'Secure Boot' Gets in the Way
'Secure Boot' wasn't meant to even exist in the first place
Stefano Maffulli, Executive Director of the Open Source Initiative, Resigns or Gets Removed (We'll Continue Covering OSI Scandals)
A dozen mentions of "AI", not much about "Open Source"
Andy Has Just Nailed It (Regarding Complexity and Failure, a la UEFI)
The users no longer own or control what they buy
Compatibility Support Module (CSM) Versus GNU/Linux Simplicity
what Andy recently called "solutionism"
Links 15/09/2025: "Postal Traffic to US Down by Over 80%" and 'Smart' Spinozacampus Laundry Room Goes AWOL
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/09/2025: Dungeon Hustle and Deleting Oneself From the Net
Links for the day
Breach of EPO's Duty of Care or Cigna Reimbursement Issues
This is the sort of thing that motivated Luigi Mangione to assassinate a CEO
Ask Ubuntu About "Secure Boot" Violation and Laptops That Don't Boot GNU/Linux
Does anyone still believe that "Secure Boot" has anything at all to do with security?
We Are Sad to Hear the Story of Jonathan Riddell, Champion of KDE and GNU/Linux on Desktops/Laptops
I have enormous respect for Jonathan and everything he has done
Talking About the Problem vs Talking to the Problem
Wanting an audience is never a good excuse for compromising one's values and principles
Focusing on Patents
The reason we cover the EPO so much is that it's close to home
"Secure Boot Violation": The 'Joys' of Fake Security Gone Wrong
Not everyone reboots every day
Links 15/09/2025: Russia Invades Romanian Airspace, Penske Media Sues Google Over LLM Slop
Links for the day
Links 15/09/2025: Bitcoin ATMs Scam and "Conservative Cryptography" (Backdoors Fantasies)
Links for the day
EPO Imitates Microsoft: "Three Days or More Per Week" Inside the Office to Get a Desk to Work on; "the Office Breaches Its Promise Towards Staff and Acts in Breach of Its Duty of Care"
The EPO serves no actual function in Europe
Links 15/09/2025: Political Affairs, Censorship, and Copyrights
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/09/2025: Music Genres, Invisible Networks, and Akademy 2025
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 14, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, September 14, 2025