Elect NoSoftwarePatents as European Of The Year 180
Aargh writes "Every year a public Internet poll is taken to vote for, amongst others, the "European of the Year". This year, the founder of NoSoftwarePatents.com has been selected as a candidate. Taken from the NoSoftwarePatents.com site: "We now have a first-rate opportunity to make political leaders, media and citizens all over the world realize the significance of our cause. Please give us your vote, and help us gain more votes, so that the founder of the NoSoftwarePatents campaign be elected as the new 'European of the Year'." Non-europeans can also vote, so why dont we unleash the slashdot hordes?" Mr. Mueller had been exchanging e-mails recently on this subject; thanks to an introduction from Kaj Arnö. I truly do think that given his, and the organization's work that they deserve to win. Check out the celebrity endorsements as well. *grin* Also, worth reading their voting guide if you are going to vote.
Re:Also read the reasons for their nominations (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Do not vote if you have no clue (Score:3, Informative)
There are some suggestions [nosoftwarepatents.com] on the NoSoftwarePatents site, if you're really stuck for choice. Obviously, read the justification under each one and see if you agree...
My mistake, in part (Score:2, Informative)
Still: some of those which aren't "at random" are still political, and not a lot to do with software, such as a candidate which is not neutral with respect to the events in Israel/Palestine.
Take care to make your own decision.
Re:Do not vote if you have no clue (Score:5, Informative)
The random recommendations are just that; random. New randomization each time you load the page. Try it a few times.
Statistically, people voting using only the nosoftwarepatents recommendations should favor none of the candidates in the unrelated polls, so as far as avoiding any undesired deviations in a poll with these rules I think that's the best it can get.
Why we recommend the Spanish PM,not the Polish guy (Score:4, Informative)
Copyright vs. patents, and my position (Score:2, Informative)
It's true that I support Blizzard's position on bnetd. That doesn't mean that I'm "an outspoken proponent of the DMCA" (because the bnetd case is one very specific case), nor that I believe "that video game makers should be able to control the experience and where and how the game is used, through technical means backed by the force of law". Those are out-of-context statements and unreasonable interpretations of what I said in the bnetd context.
It's a matter of fact that I'v ebeen living off intellectual-property rights, mostly copyright (and to some extent trademarks, but never patents), for 20 years. I started at age 15 as an author of articles for computer magazines, and a year later became a computer book author, and I wrote computer programs. I interrupted a game development project to fight against software patents, and after my book on the software patent story is out the door, I'll resume that project.
The only way to succeed politically against software patents is to have a pro-author's rights position. That's the basis on which I was able to win some politicians over who weren't on our side before (especially on the right wing). An anti-IP fundamentalism is counterproductive. The net effect of taking a radical anti-IP position is that politicians don't even meet with you, parliamentary committees don't invite you to their hearings, and you can rant but you can't influence legislation. Look at the process concerning the Patent Reform Act in the US: Those who take too much of an anti-IP position aren't listened to. Politicians view this as a matter of economic policy for the most part, not a question of idealism.
As for the bnetd case, I'm absolutely pro-interoperability when it comes to exchanging documents between different computer systems. Where I think one has to be careful about an interoperability privilege is any client-server setting. There are situations in which I believe it's legitimate for an author to reserve certain rights. Also, I can't see that it's reasonable to claim that interoperability is important between the client and the server component of a computer game, especially not when the primary effect of such interference is that a copyright-protection scheme is broken (and thereby a business model that is much more in the interest of consumers than those subscription models where you pay every month, or copy protection by dint of errors on a medium that are checked for). Also, I know that the Blizzard guys are gamers themselves. I worked with them as a consultant and representative from 1995 to 1998. You can find my name in the credits of WarCraft II and StarCraft (provided that you haven't installed Brood War, a project in which I was no longer involved).
That's my position. If you find someone on the ballot who's not only anti-swpat but also anti-copyright, go and vote for him, but you won't find any because people with that attitude don't make much political headway. Please also read the endorsements that I received from RMS, Tim O'Reilly, Alan Cox, Rasmus Lerdorf and Monty Widenius. RMS and Tim O'Reilly discussed some of those copyright-related issues with me by email, and there are differences between their positions and mine that we're well aware of, but the endorsements relate to the fact that I'm running on a NoSoftwarePatents.com ticket, and that's the message that this is about. It's not about YesToCopyright or whatever else. I'm not going to be elected president and then have power to do lots of things. I was just nominated as a figurehead of the NoSoftwarePatents movement, so I hope I can count on your support.
That would make U2 frontman Bono an astroturfer (Score:2, Informative)
Florian is a glory hog (Score:1, Informative)
"For almost a year, I have been spending virtually all of my working time on
the political fight against software patents," said Mueller. "[But] the time
has come for me to step down from my responsibility as a full-time campaign
manager, and to resume a game development project in which I had previously
invested almost two years of work."
"Obviously, most people will in the greater scheme of things consider the
software patent issue more important than a game. However, that game is my
project, so I had to make a personal choice."
Suddenly, when it was clear we would win he suddenly appeared out of nowhere was the leader of this movement. This just strikes me as opportunistic and looking to profit (book deals, interviews) and stroke his ego.
Here's why I stepped down and why I came back (Score:5, Informative)
Claiming that I returned when we were on the winning track is the opposite of what happened. On June 20, the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament voted on the software patent directive, and many essential amendments to the proposed bill (in order to exclude software from the scope of patentable subject matter) fell through. When the members of the committee voted at the end whether the parliament should accept or reject the bill (accepting meaning that it would still have gone back to the EU Council and possibly to conciliation), 16 voted for and only 10 against the proposal.
In that precarious situation, a group of companies actually did provide the kind of support that I became involved again for the last two weeks before the plenary vote. Like in almost all parliaments, it's the plenary that takes the actual decision, and the committee sort of prepares the plenary vote (in some parliaments, if the committee decides in a certain way, it's practically a done deal because people in the plenary just take the official party position, but in the European Parliament, the plenary may still decide differently).
I didn't position myself as the leader of our movement in the European Parliament at that stage. I took some initiatives and met various politicians and aides, and the FFII was really in charge.
Someone is not a "glory hog" because several independent juries nominate him for certain awards and honors. There's some information on those awards and honors toward the bottom of my backgrounder page on the NoSoftwarePatents.com site [nosoftwarepatents.com], and especially about how I personally view those nominations. I also explained that at great length in an email that the FFII sent out to all of its registered supporters.