Dear Friends, Thanks for pointing out that some of the speakers used proprietary software in FSFS conference. It is a serious mistake and I will be taking this up in organising committee of the conference to ensure that this mistake is not repeated.
I talked to the person in charge of the technical track and he said two or three speakers in technical track used proprietary operating system. It seems that they had their development environment setup in their laptops with proprietary OS hence wanted to use their laptop.
Unfortunately no one pointed out this at the venue. Otherwise we could have corrected there itself. Most of the free software activists were spending their time in Policy track and exhibition.
In the policy track, participants objected to speakers when they took position which was not acceptable to free software community.
I request my friends to raise voices when ever you see these kinds of mistakes. By raising your voice and protesting, we will be able to better educate others. Mistakes can be an opportunity for education.
Couple of other points raised in blogs:
1. I dont think it is wrong to show windows like theme in the exhibition. 2. One blogger try to ridicule free software activists as fanatics. Another blogger finds fault in stating that free software is a social movement.
Warm regards Arun