Libre Planet part 2
Blogging live from Libre Planet. Second part of day-one was quite busy. Here is briefly how it went. The supplied lunch was really good. There was some kind of bean salad and brochettes, both chicken and vegetarian ones.
The afternoon session started with a panel on Free Software activism with Brian Gough, Ryan Bagueros, and Bradley Kuhn. The panel somewhat lacked of focus which is bad considering the very interesting set of panelists that we had. The second presentation was really good. Evan Prodromou talked about his experience at offering Free Software web services. He had a very colored view of being free in all sense of the term: making the source only available under the AGPL license so that other service suppliers can't withhold their improvements; making the user data easy migrate and transport to a supplier; making the software easy to interoperate with by developing it's API as an open standard. Truely a moving and enlightening talk.
I was able to able to get a few signatures on my GPG key during the break. The first talk of the second session covered Gnash with Rob Savoye, one of the most entertaining speaker I've ever seen. It was good to see Gnash as a way to develop user interfaces for embeded devices instead of the traditional view that it is only a way to get Youtube to work. There was a presentation by Ciaran O'Riordan on the fight against software patents. Finally, the last presentation was by Richard Stallman on how to extend the definition of Free Software to Javascript programs. It's good to see the copious amount of realism that they put in their work. As an example, they are aware that most Javascript code is so trivial that no licensing is really called for.
The evening progressed at the Redline pub in Harvard Square. A somewhat small place for the horde of thirsty drinkers that we were but still a nice place with a very good selection of local beers.
I have to mention that my new EEE 1000HE served me really well. I was able to run unplugged the whole day, typing with the wifi activated almost constantly. I did close down the lid when I was idle to shut down the LCD and thats about it. More to come.