[IndiChix] OSI week

[Atul Chitnis]

On Thu, 7 Feb 2008, Vid Ayer wrote:

>> OSIweek is unrelated to the FOSS community in any way - it is a commercial
>> event aimed at making money of the "Linux" and "Open Source" buzzphrases.
>
> Fwiw, we are not discussing the semantics of a true-blue FLoss
> community because by that definition devcamp.in wont make the cut....
> AND absolutely anyone is free to make money with FLoss, rather a lot
> of companies and commercial events survive thus.

At some point, you must understand that *opinions* are a poor replacement 
for *experience*.

You clearly never been to one of these shindigs (and it would probably be 
good if you do, so that you get some experience with them), nor did not 
read and undestand the post I had pointed to, so let me make it clear for 
you:

These events do not encourage the use of FOSS. They do not recognise the 
FOSS community - in fact they shun it and put the community in their place 
(which is usually far away, and out of sight).

your pointing at speakers is meaningless - these are the sugar-coating on 
the bitter pill inside. And I am not exaggarating - I have been part of 
such events myself. They provide the illusion of FOSS community 
involvement, but the real core of the event has a different focus.

The common message that emerges out of these conferences (especially the 
erstwhile Linux Asia and now OSIweek) is that "FOSS is ok for getting 
started, but to get any real work done, you must upgrade to our closed 
source, proprietary products by paying big money".

And that is contrary to what any FOSS-related group (including this one) 
stands for.

devcamp, on the other hand, is perfectly aligned with the objectives of 
this group (and other FOSS groups), because it represents a coming 
together of *technology enthusiasts* - the very core that makes up the 
FOSS world.

Atul