The-Source.com

A Little Background

eLiberatica is an “Open Source and Free Software” conference in Romania, sponsored by Microsoft. A Gentle Reader of this blog, Dan Serban, questioned this relationship and contacted Richard Stallman for his comments on such situations.

Lucy, you’ve got some ‘splaining to do!

eLiberatica Conference Chair Lucian Savluc has offered up “Some clarity about eLiberatica and Microsoft“. Mr. Savluc’s response is a bit odd but seems well-intentioned.

I call the response odd because although Mr. Savluc defends Microsoft’s sponsorship role, he simultaneously confesses that:

• Microsoft is “not right”
• Microsoft’s speakers “lack passion”
• Microsoft “is wrong”
• Microsoft speakers “pretend they love FLOSS”
• Microsoft “will try hard to slow down FLOSS adoption”
• Microsoft “will not change if we talk to them”

Personally, I agree with those points, and so have difficulty resolving why a conference with the goal of developing a “healthy Free Software, Open Source, and Digital Civil Society movement, and to promote Free/Libre/Open-Source Software business models” would allow Microsoft to have a sponsorship role.

Especially because we know based on court documents that Microsoft had a policy of “stacking” panels and conferences!

So, believing that Microsoft is both wrong and trying to retard FLOSS adoption, and knowing Microsoft will intentionally deceive conference organizers and attendees, I wonder exactly how one reconciles that with the expressed goal of promoting Free Software?

I guess part of it is people feel like they need the money that a Microsoft sponsorship brings, and another part is people simply do not want to acknowledge Microsoft’s bad behavior. If you try to do both, to take their money and condemn them, you end up having some awkward blog post that winds up on this site.

RMS Comments

Here is the email from RMS that Gentle Reader Dan Serban was kind enough to provide. Outer quoted material is RMS, inner quoted material is Mr. Serban’s.

Please distribute this in the community.

My question to you: is it appropriate for Microsoft Corporation to be sponsoring free software community events? What is your stance on this topic?

Accepting the money from Microsoft would, in itself, do not harm.  But Microsoft typically demands a price for its sponsorship, a price that implies a change in the nature of the event.

The price might be, let someone from Microsoft give a speech.  The price might be, don’t say that proprietary software is evil.  The price might be, present Microsoft sponsorship in a way that inhibits you from denouncing Microsoft’s software as unethical.

One way or other, Microsoft wants us to stop saying the most important thing to say: “Proprietary software is an injustice and we want to help you escape from it.”

This issue does not arise for OSCON because that is an open source event.  “Open source” is the term used by those who do not wish to take an ethical stand against proprietary software.  OSCON did not need to sell out its principles in order to accept Microsoft’s money because it never had such principles.  I heard that O’Reilly Associates distributes manuals with Digital Restrictions Management. which can only be read using nonfree software.  I don’t know for certain if that is accurate, but it would not conflict with any principles ORA ever stated.

OSCON is the sort of event Microsoft would like our community to have, one that avoids raising the issue of the injustice of proprietary software.  If eLiberatica is to live up to its name, it must not take OSCON as a model.

myself) and mr. Savluc he insists that in order to be able to finance FLOSS community booths and speaking engagements by yourself and other guests from outside Romania, he needs to bring in Microsoft Corporation as a sponsor.

I would be glad to visit eLiberatica some day, if its message is true to its name.  But don’t weaken the event to get money from Microsoft to bring me.  My speech might do some good, but it could not entirely counteract the weakening effect of the changes that Microsoft would require.

It is better to do without Microsoft’s sponsorship and have a smaller event.

In Summation

I suppose an “Open Source” conference can safely allow a Microsoft sponsorship, if one is speaking of the divorced-from-Free Software modern “Open Source”. As RMS states, there are no principles there to be violated.

However, a conference that attempts to strongly promote “Free and Open Source software” with special emphasis on the “libre”, can not safely allow a Microsoft sponsorship. The compromise in principle is too great.

The harm outweighs any benefit. One must always keep in mind sponsorship is beneficial for Microsoft – they would not sponsor an event if it were not so. Since we know Microsoft opposes Free Software in practice and principle, one must ask what benefit Microsoft sees in sponsoring an event promoting Free Software?

It is, as RMS says, to weaken the event; to decrease or suppress any criticism of proprietary software in general and Microsoft in specific.