DebConf6, Hot and Spicy 90
What do a space tourist, a skinny dipper, politics, and code have in common? This year's DebConf, of course! Robin 'Roblimo' Miller has the writeup over on NewsForge (Also owned by VA). From the article: "Shuttleworth was back in Oaxtepec Wednesday, hanging out and chatting with individuals and small groups, checking his email, and otherwise behaving like most other DebConf attendees. It was obvious that even if not all of them loved him -- or Ubuntu, or his for-profit company, Canonical Ltd. -- he considered this small group important enough to be worth more of his time than the 14,000 people who went to JavaOne."
Seems they forgot (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Ubuntu Logo separate from Debian? (Score:1, Interesting)
Especially considering the recent stink with Sun's Java license, when certain high-ranked Debian Developers who just happen to be Canonical employees pushed through an obviously non-fit piece of software few days after a Sun-Ubuntu deal.
Ubuntu has a lot of followers here, but let's not forget, it's primarily a corporation rather than a volunteer organization.
What about the fight? (Score:5, Interesting)
It makes you wonder (a) what kind of lunatics are running Debian these days, and (b) whether Debian can hold together as an organisation.
Re:What about the fight? (Score:2, Interesting)
5/12 of laptops running Ubuntu (Score:3, Interesting)
That is because Debian won't install on modern laptops! Well, not without grand efforts.
Seriously though, it seems that many Debianites begrudge Ubuntu for being what they don't want Debian to be: up to date.
Re:What about the fight? (Score:3, Interesting)
Any member of the project (about 800-1000 people worldwide at this point) can toss their hat into the ring. Saying that he was a candidate is true, but the implications may not be as serious as they seem. Mr. Walther was the first person ever to be ranked below "None of the Above" in a Debian Project Leader election (in the 2005 elections [debian.org]) In the 2006 DPL election [debian.org], two candidates came in below "None of the Above", but one of them, Ari Pollak, was running as an openly "joke" candidate; his platform [debian.org] involved allowing his cat help him make decisions, and putting snakes on Plan9 (don't ask). Despite this, Mr. Pollak still managed to garner more votes than Mr. Walther, who was again, dead last.
I wouldn't worry about the Debian leadership until someone like Mr. Walther can at least beat "None of the Above" in an election.
Re:Ted was not a saint (Score:5, Interesting)
Even a wacky conspiracy theorist starts to look credible when some one trys to assasinate him.
Does kicking someone out of the project involve not telling them at all. Or for what reason even after the fact.
They invited him there! He went there at great expense with the sole intention of trying to make peace and mend relationships. It seems as though the intention was to lure him there and beat him senseless in the middle of some forign country!
He didn't do anything while at Debconf to provoke anyone as far as I can see. Please someone tell me a specific case if he did do anything, but wearing a plastic crown and carrying a foam rubber bat, that was just a prop to be the jester of the crowd. Isn't cause or provocation. He didn't hit anyone with the bat, nor did he act agressive or even speak to any of his attackers.
Had this been in the US, I'm sure police and lawyers would be involved.
Re:Ted was not a saint (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.aigarius.com/2006/03/10/interview-with
Aigars by the way is not a fan of Teds, but is honest and I have a lot of respect for him. He even told Ted to his face that "you're getting under my skin", but have respect for that.
Aigars article really explains the Debian woman situation, and having experienced first hand the clique around Amaya, that would talk behind every ones back and spread rumors and conjecture, and work them selves into a frenzy, as well as act as the PC police. Other than that I thought she was pretty cute.
1) Ted never asked for travel funding, I had already agreed to cover him. He was defending others who were having sponsorship problems, and who still are.
2) Again the context is missing. What he said that if what the organizers was telling him was true then, this must be a "second rate hotel in a third world country" where the cooks are "not worth their salt". , This is because their answers to him were deceptive and conflicting.
3) His documents were on his personal web site and not associated with Debian. And he is far from a racist and Nazi, if he were I'd beat his ass for you.
4) Tyrannically? What are you smoking?
5) Many people have contacted both myself and Ted, privately offering support, but seem to be afraid to come out publicly because of the climate of fear within the debian community. Ted is opposed to some of the things the leadership of debian are doing, and this is real reason for his being attacked and picked on at every turn.
From the Aigars interview about Debian:
Finally, a place free of affirmative action and limits on free speech; just a bunch of people doing their best to make something great. You stand or fall on your own merits. Freethinking and refusal to compromise with political correctness was the order of the day. I was in heaven.
It was this change away from these values and ideas that Ted was attempting to reverse. This change is a part of the new (current) debian leadership. I sense a group of SysAdmin type paranoid thinkers, certainly not kernel hackers.
It's where things are misrepresented, out of context, and done secretly behind peoples backs that I just can't tolerate. I have been though too much of this crap in the past.
Debian started as a democratic organization, and still pretends to be one, but clearly this only superficial now.
Joerg assured me after the fight that I would be include in the discussion of what transpired that evening before a decision was cast. But this never took place, 7am Ted was tossed out, and I left with him.
The leadership has no Honor, or Balls, It did things privately and in secret in a most undemocratic, closed, and totalitarian fashion. I had been keeping and open mind about the whole situation and really remaining unbiased until that point. I really lost all respect for these guys, and after hearing from many South and Central Americans how they where also upset with the way debian was being run, I am totally convinced it's all true and at least as bad as I was hearing.
How can Ted get a GR when he has been silenced and cut off from the community?
Ted may not be leadership material, but neither is Anthony. Ted is one of the most loyal hard working employees I have ever had, he has been thorough a lot with me over the years. He has a very deep sense of honor and speaks his mind when he feels something need to be said even when it's unpopular and might get him into trouble.
But I can respect it.