This page permanently redirects to gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2008/11/18/anivar-aravind-on-novell-protest/.

● 11.18.08

●● Novell Information, in the Words of Anivar Aravind

Posted in Asia, Free/Libre Software, Microsoft, Novell at 5:36 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

IN THREE previous posts, we have covered the events which took place in India. In chronological order:

Friendly ‘Boycott Novell’ Supportes Robbed of VoiceEven Microsoft Chooses Red Hat Over Novell’s SUSENovell Removed from List of National Free Software Conference Sponsors?

There are many accusations of misinformation out there, so critics might wish to use as reference the words of Anivar Aravind, who was there on the scene and was also removed by the organisers, by force (an unprecedented act, according to Richard Stallman). Anivar should know the story best and he delves into the finer details.

=> ↺ the words of Anivar Aravind

While mailing lists becomes a play ground to execute Goebbelsian tactics, I feel i need to scribble the reason & step by step incidents in our campaign in National Conference on Free Software.

[...]

Novell is the Only GNU/linux company name mentioned in the Conference. since it is organised with the silent support of CPIM (You can understand it simply by going through schedule) a lot of people from Employee Unions, Students Unions, teachers Unions etc were participated in the event. Our intention is to protect these people being misguided by Novell. Novell was mainly promoting their fork of OpenOffice 3.0 (after in which they implemented notorious OOXML and forked after OO3 moved to LGPLv3)& SUSE in their stall. Most of the participants in the Conference were newbies and Novell is the only GNU/Linux distro widely promoted in the exhibition. Our protest is not targeted at Organizers or Novell. It was just a way to spread awareness on Novell’s evil trends through the posters to protect  new users  being misguided.

Here is the information which was distributed [PDF] by the activists. It encourages no hate; it merely informs.

=> ↺ the information which was distributed

It’s funny enough that Novell, a proprietary software company at heart, is attending and striving to steal the thunder in Free software conferences. It’s not an isolated example because Novell does the same thing in Europe where the walls get ‘draped’ in Novell and SUSE logos. They plaster their identity and footprint where they do not belong.

InfoWorld (IDG) has just published an article with me and therein I explained why Microsoft’s similar behaviour (infiltrating FOSS events) is mostly a PR charade. It’s also funny to see Microsoft attending Ajax conferences. By refusing to support SVG Microsoft has held back Web development for ages. It is an enemy of advanced Web technologies because it threatens its desktop applications and makes Windows more obsolete.

=> ↺ published an article with me | refusing to support SVG

Here is another audacious article that mentions Novell, Microsoft, and intellectual property.

=> ↺ Novell, Microsoft, and intellectual property

In intellectual property, all the noise about the illegitimacy of open source, how Microsoft found its code in Linux and other open source projects, has withered. Microsoft partnered with Novell, and skilled programmers within Microsoft’s own ranks pointed out how much open source code is developed on Windows, and how much open source code interoperates with Windows. And everyone saw how, if Windows Server 2008 is to have a place in the data center, it will have to work with open source code. Proprietary software companies from Citrix to IBM to Sun proved their faith in community-built code by buying open source vendors.

Boycott Novell has gained a lot more validation over the past week with links from major press outlets like InformationWeek, ComputerWorld, ZDNet, and Slashdot. Proponents of the information we present here might therefore find it easier to support and defend. █

=> ↺ InformationWeek

Share in other sites/networks: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

Permalink  Send this to a friend

=> Permalink | ↺ Send this to a friend

=> Techrights

➮ Sharing is caring. Content is available under CC-BY-SA.