Idea: FSF speaker?

[Dennis Kibbe]

From: "Mike Schwartz" <mike.l.schwartz at gmail.com>
Subject: Idea: FSF speaker? (was: Re: New Eben Moglen speech [...])
Date: Wed, 16 May 2007 13:47:21 -0700

> On 5/16/07, Dennis Kibbe <dennisk at fastmail.fm> wrote:
> >
> > From: "Ben Francom" <bfrancom at gmail.com>
> > Subject: Re: New Eben Moglen speech available
> > Date: Wed, 16 May 2007 06:44:49 -0700
> >
> > > On 5/16/07, Alan Dayley <alandd at consultpros.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Given at the Red Hat Summit.  I downloaded it last night but have not
> > > > watched yet.  I have every confidence that it is worth listening to.
> > >
> > >
> > > Just finished watching it.  He is the man!  One of his main points about
> > the
> > > Novell-Microsoft deal is, "We're [Gnu/Linux is] an ecological
> > system.  If
> > > you undermine community defenses, you're undermining the whole
> > ecology.  And
> > > doing that for the benefit of your customers at the expense of your
> > > suppliers is not a good way to stay in business."
> >
> > Would you like to meet Eben Moglen?  Maybe talk patents with him over
> > dinner?  Or discuss Free software with RMS?  Maybe talk to Bruce Perens or
> > the OLPC people?  How about programming with Gene Sussman?  All on the
> > campus of MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
> >
> > You can if you make plans to attent the next membership meeting of the
> > Free Software Foundation in Boston (approx. March 2008).
> >
> > It's free and held on the weekend.  USAir has a direct flight for about
> > $260USD round trip. The Hotel @ MIT is within warking distance -- where else
> > can you log into wifi in your room and be asked if you want a static IP?
> >
> > With less than 200 attending you'll have plenty of opportunities to talk
> > with the people who are shaping the future.
> >
> > Dennisk
> > ---------------------------------------------------
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> >
> 
> I am not trying to discourage anyone from attending
> the FSF meeting;  this is just a different idea, that
> popped up, while I was thinking about what DennisK wrote...
>     If PLUG (or some other non-profit .org) wants to bring
> any of those folks to AZ, to speak,
> then I might know a way how we could
> [find the money to] pay for the travel expenses;
> There is a certain non-profit .org I know of, whose
> local members have sorta lost interest
> (for about the last 5 years or so),
> but whose treasurer still pays dues,
> and has the check book,
> and in fact that .org has recently (about a year ago)
> sponsored (the meeting room fees for) some meetings
> of another non-profit .org
> (long story... more details available, but
>   outside the scope of this post...).
>    Also, I seem to recall having some e-mail exhanges
> circa late 1992, with Laurie Faith Ackerman (her last
> name might be different now) in St Louis.  At that time
> RMS was going to be in town anyway for something
> else (I think the CS dept was paying for him to fly in,
> and speak about Emacs or the history of its development,
> something like that), so anyway some group of rebels
> (this was before the days of LUGs), maybe it was a
> student chapter of ACM
> (see my e-mail address)["Reply-To: " header]
> was also having RMS as a speaker, which they were
> able to do at little or no cost - I guess just the extra
> for another day or two in St Louis.  At that time at least,
> RMS preferred to stay with someone who wanted a
> chance to talk to him - (I guess he considered money
> spent on a hotel as, not well spent...)  I am not sure
> whether his tastes have changed...  In any event, we
> never did get things worked out, for RMS to travel to
> AZ, and "while in the area" maybe also squeeze in a
> speaking opportunity in LA and/or maybe Denver or
> El Paso, or ?...
> But maybe now might be the right time...
> perhaps before or (probably) after that FSF meeting?
> Just an idea,
> from 
> -- 
> Mike Schwartz
> Glendale  AZ
> schwartz at acm.org
> Mike.L.Schwartz at gmail.com

Hi Mike,

I'll ask about a speaker when I'm back at the FSF office next week.  This would be a good event for AZOTA to sponsor since it's more about Freedom than Linux.

I've already been touch with Joshua Gay, FSF's new Campaigns Manager.

Dennisk