rants
Random rants and thoughts about my activities in and for the Free Software community.
The reason for the Fellowship meeting
During the discussion on the new list for Fellows it came out that the main reason for the upcoming international meeting of the Fellows is the opportunity for FSFE team members to meet and thank the Fellows for their help and support.
When the Fellowship was launched a comment appeared on the blog of a patent attorney. He noted that "FSFE was calling its arms to the battle against software patents".
Indeed, he was totally right: the Fellows have helped fighting and winning that battle, probably without even noticing. It was thanks to the enthusiastic contributions of the first Fellows that FSFE was able to support Ciaran economically to be a lobbyist in Bruxelles instead of a bartender, as it seemed to be his destiny at that time. Indeed, he did a great job, but a big thank you goes to all Fellows.
September 5th, 2006 at 8:50 pm
I’ve a different idea
My mailserver is down for repairs, so I haven’t seen the thread, but I have a different reason for going to the Fellowship conference. Two reasons actually. One is status reports and so we can all tell each other what we’re working on. The other is team building - getting to know each other so that it’s easier to work together on current and future projects.
I want to go there and find out what everyone is working on, find out what people want to be working on, and find how what people can do.
For example, we need to work on IPRED2, and I’m sure there are people who want to work on it, but starting from scratch on your own - in your spare time - is difficult. I’m hoping that if there is someone interested in working on IPRED2, then they can find others who are also interested in it, and they can find others who might not be able to work on it, but might have some useful related knowledge such as about the legislative process, or about IPRED-1, or about lobbying, etc. …and instead of IPRED2, it might be software patents, or free software in public administration, or whatever.
And meeting each other in person is important because working with someone you’ve only met by email is difficult.
To Fellows who are coming, please register:
http://fsfe.org/en/forums/discussions/registration_for_november_11th_fellowship_meeting
And here’s part of the story of how an Irish computer programmer ended up as a software patent fighting barman in Brussels:
http://fsfe.org/en/fellows/ciaran/ciaran_s_free_software_notes/something_reminded_me_of_when_i_first_moved_to_brussels
(That’s the “Why a barman?” part. The “Why Brussels?” part is because this is where the action is.)