Updated the blog post http://anivar.movingrepublic.org/2008/national-free-software-conference-boyc...
1. Mail From RMS ==============
I received a mail from RMS (Richard Mathew Stallman) , the founder of Free Software movement. He says
First of all, congratulations on being the first free software activist to be physically attacked for a peaceful protest. This means our movement is gaining in stature ;-).
He also commented about our campaign strategy
ANIVAR> Most of the participants in the Conference were newbies and Novell is ANIVAR> the only GNU/Linux distro widely promoted in the exhibition. Our ANIVAR> protest is not targeted at Organizers or Novell. It was just a way to ANIVAR> spread awareness on Novell's evil trends through the posters to ANIVAR> prevent Novell's misguiding new users
That's the right way to approach it.
2. ILUG Cochin's Event Report ====================
ILUG Cochin Released an Event Report about the event. The event Report says
The series of events that happened was bad in terms of the organizers taking an unnecessary tough stand on the matter and not lending an ear to the actual facts.
We were happy to raise our voice and protest with the Free Software community opposing the likes of forces like Novell. Indeed it was good to see a resistance in a programme of such magnitude like the National Conference. Although there is no doubt to the fact that the conference did its job, bringing people from all walks of life and ILUG Cochin did the job telling people the principles behind it, the opposition against Novell has also increased the significance and importance of the event thereby bringing about a lot of questions into the community which would not have been raised otherwise.
3. SMC's Statement =============
<snip> Members from SMC were part of the Programme Committee and the Souvenir Committee. There were no indication that Novell was the platinum sponsor of this Free Software Event. The organisers never communicated about the sponsorship and thus betrayed the whole Free Software community as Novell did. This is evident from the incidents that occurred after the peaceful campaign to boycott Novell by the SMC members & other Free Software Supporters present at the meeting. </snip>
<snip> SMC takes this opportunity to deeply condemn the organisers decision to include Novell into the Free Software event. SMC urges the organisers of the event to aplogize to the community on this dreadful alliance with the notorious Novell Corporation and the way the organisers treated Free Software Campaigners. </snip>
Also Read Comments http://anivar.movingrepublic.org/2008/national-free-software-conference-boyc...
Anivar Aravind