2004-07-27 23:04:41 +00:00
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2006-05-08 14:11:21 +00:00
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2001-08-23 14:45:14 +00:00
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<head>
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<title>Free Software Experts</title>
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</head>
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2006-05-08 14:11:21 +00:00
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2001-08-23 14:45:14 +00:00
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<body>
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<p />
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<blockquote>
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<center><h2>Free Software Experts</h2></center>
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2001-08-25 07:45:19 +00:00
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<p> Have you ever been depressed, possibly more than once, to
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discover that a so called <a
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2001-08-23 14:45:14 +00:00
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href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.fr.html">Free
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2001-08-25 09:03:49 +00:00
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Software</a> project was financed despite the fact that
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it had nothing to do with Free Software? Europe will soon
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2001-08-25 07:45:19 +00:00
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be financing new projects and you could help prevent
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similar travesties by becoming <a
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2001-08-23 14:45:14 +00:00
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href="http://candidature.cordis.lu/expert-evaluators/">External
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Experts</a>. It will then be more difficult to claim that
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nothing could be done: your skills are required to
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validate the candidate projects.
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</p>
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<p> The <a href="http://www.cordis.lu/fp5/src/over.htm">Fifth
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Framework Programme</a> (FP5) of the European Commission
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2001-08-25 07:45:19 +00:00
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<a
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href="http://www.cordis.lu/fp5-openings/home.html">needs
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experts</a>. Of the candidates who proposed themselves
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2001-08-23 14:45:14 +00:00
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thru the <a
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href="http://candidature.cordis.lu/expert-evaluators/">online
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2001-08-25 07:45:19 +00:00
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application form</a>, only a few have any real
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understanding of what Free Software is and how it
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2001-08-25 07:45:19 +00:00
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works. While all experts will be eligible, only a few will
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be solicited for any particular evaluation. In each case
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the experts will speak only for themselves, not for their
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2004-07-27 23:04:41 +00:00
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employer nor for organisations they belong to. Early in
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2001-08-25 07:45:19 +00:00
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October 2001 a number of projects will be sent for
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evaluation in the <i><a
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2001-08-23 14:45:14 +00:00
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href="http://www.cordis.lu/fp5/src/t-2.htm">Creating a
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user-friendly information society</a></i> framework.
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</p>
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2001-08-25 07:45:19 +00:00
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<p> Who will then be able, technical concerns aside, to judge
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that a so called <i>Free Software</i> project is not in fact
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simply a marketing attempt, using the latest buzzword? The
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2001-08-25 07:45:19 +00:00
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candidates for funding know that the European Commission <a
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2001-08-24 09:52:42 +00:00
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href="http://www.cordis.lu/ist/ka4/tesss/impl_free.htm#2001">wishes
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to encourage Free Software projects</a> because of their
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intrinsic qualities of freedom, independence and sharing.
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The temptation will be great for them to say they have the
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technical and human resources necessary to create and
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maintain a Free Software project even if they don't have the
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slightest idea of what it really means. If no expert has a
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real knowledge of Free Software project development, how
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will the European Commission be able to sort that out?
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</p>
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2001-08-23 15:14:11 +00:00
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<p> An example demonstrates this situation. Let's pretend that
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2001-08-24 09:52:42 +00:00
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the <a href="http://www.gnupki.org/en/index.php">GnuPKI</a>
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project and the <a
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href="http://www.campware.org/">campware</a> project <a
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href="http://www.cordis.lu/ist/ka4/tesss/prog.htm">submit
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proposals</a> that are equally good technically speaking
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(regardless of the fact that they deal with different
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subjects). Let's further pretend that the commission has to
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choose between these two, without the benefit of advice from
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any Free Software experts. They will probably favor
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2001-08-26 06:26:05 +00:00
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GnuPKI since they do a better job of marketing themselves.
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</p>
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2001-08-25 08:11:02 +00:00
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<p> It turns out that people familiar with Free Software would
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notice some anomalies about GnuPKI. First of all it is
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not a package of the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/">GNU
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2001-10-15 08:38:02 +00:00
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project</a>, despite their name [<a href="#gnu">1</a>].
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2001-08-25 10:50:02 +00:00
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Given that the GNU project provides core components to the most
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widely used Free Software operating systems (Debian, RedHat, Mandrake etc.),
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this mistake demonstrates a disturbing ignorance. Free Software is
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a matter of communicating with heterogeneous development groups,
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2001-08-25 07:45:19 +00:00
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this is therefore a point that plays against GnuPKI. In addition,
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the GnuPKI security expert, Mr
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Eduard Tric, <a
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2001-08-25 07:45:19 +00:00
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href="http://www.google.com/search?q=%22eduard+tric%22">has never
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participated in Free Software development</a> and no
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package of the developed software is available as yet.
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This shows a lack of understanding for the development model.
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2001-08-25 09:03:49 +00:00
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Taking these facts into account, we would now expect GnuPKI's
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chances of being successful to be much lower than those of
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campware.
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2001-08-23 14:45:14 +00:00
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</p>
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<p>
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2001-08-25 09:03:49 +00:00
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One cannot expect all cases to be as clear cut as this
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example. Evaluating a project, for the European Commission
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or for your own company, often requires a more subtle study.
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2001-08-25 10:09:57 +00:00
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When dealing with Free Software it is essential to carefully
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evaluate the legal status of a project with particular
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regard to copyright, because various licenses
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are used and many companies are involved. The ability of the
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2004-07-27 23:04:41 +00:00
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candidates to co-operate with development teams on the
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2001-08-24 18:23:11 +00:00
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network, their ability to establish a dialog and their
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current involvement in the Free Software community is also
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of great importance. These points are not technical, they
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2001-08-24 18:23:11 +00:00
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don't have an equivalent in non-free software projects and
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can only be evaluated by people actively involved in Free
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Software.
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</p>
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2001-10-15 08:38:02 +00:00
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<p>
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[<a name="gnu">1</a>]
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<i>
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A frequent mistake is to confuse GNU and Free Software.
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They are not identical terms. Many Free Software are not
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part of the GNU project. The GNU project, started in 1984,
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is exclusively made of Free Software but it is not necessary
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for a software to be part of the GNU project in order to
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be Free Software.
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</i>
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</p>
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2004-07-27 23:04:41 +00:00
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<i><a href="mailto:loic@fsfeurope.org">Loïc Dachary</a></i>
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2001-08-26 21:51:26 +00:00
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<p/>
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Thanks to Phil Hands, Bernhard Reiter, MJ Ray.
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2001-08-27 13:40:07 +00:00
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<p/>
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Submitted to:
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<ul>
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2001-08-27 16:36:58 +00:00
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<li><a href="http://www.linux.org.uk/">linux.org.uk</a> (<a href="http://www.linux.org.uk/">published</a>)</li>
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2001-08-27 16:54:00 +00:00
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<li><a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/">The Register</a> (no reply)</li>
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2001-08-27 13:40:07 +00:00
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<li><a href="http://www.slashdot.org/">Slashdot</a> (rejected)</li>
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2001-08-27 16:36:58 +00:00
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<li><a href="http://www.linuxtoday.com/">LinuxToday</a> (<a href="http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2001-08-27-009-20-PR-CY">published</a>)</li>
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2001-08-27 13:41:07 +00:00
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<li><a href="http://www.newsforge.org/">NewsForge</a> (<a href="http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/08/27/1215241&mode=nocomment">published</a>)</li>
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2001-08-27 13:40:07 +00:00
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</ul>
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<p />
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</blockquote>
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</body>
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2006-05-08 14:11:21 +00:00
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<timestamp>$Date$ $Author$</timestamp>
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