Computer Science Canada

Richard Stallman to give talk at Waterloo
Author:  Hikaru79 [ Wed Feb 14, 2007 5:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Richard Stallman to give talk at Waterloo
According to the Computer Science Club website, April 11th of this year is going to be a big day for Waterloo...
http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/events/Hagey_Hall-2007-04-11-3:30_PM.html wrote:
Richard Stallman will speak about the goals and philosophy of the Free Software Movement, and the status and history the GNU operating system, which in combination with the kernel Linux is now used by tens of millions of users world-wide.

I was a bit upset that I missed Bill Gates when he was here, since I was still in high school, but this makes up for it!
Author:  Clayton [ Wed Feb 14, 2007 9:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Richard Stallman to give talk at Waterloo
any more details, ie. is this just for UWaterloo students, or just University students etc. time and date and all that jazz?
Author:  Hikaru79 [ Wed Feb 14, 2007 9:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Richard Stallman to give talk at Waterloo
Oh, sorry Smile It was given at the URL but here it is:
Quote:
Held in Hagey Hall at 2007-04-11, 3:30 PM.


Any map of campus will tell you where Hagey Hall is.

I'm not sure what the "official" policy on out-of-school guests is, but I am almost positive nobody will be turned away. Maybe Martin can confirm this, but I'd be very surprised to see anyone at the door turning away interested kids. The goal of the CSC is to promote interest in computer science, not to be an exclusive gathering of recluses... Razz
Author:  Clayton [ Wed Feb 14, 2007 9:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Richard Stallman to give talk at Waterloo
Ook! my bad, sorry.

If I was sure I could get in, I might be able to swing a ride down there, as my brother lives in Kitchener, so my parents could hang out down there during that time...
Author:  Hikaru79 [ Wed Feb 14, 2007 9:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Richard Stallman to give talk at Waterloo
Freakman @ Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:26 pm wrote:
Ook! my bad, sorry.

If I was sure I could get in, I might be able to swing a ride down there, as my brother lives in Kitchener, so my parents could hang out down there during that time...


Alright, in that case, I'll double check with Martin just to be 100% absolutely positive and get back to you. Smile
Author:  Skynet [ Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Richard Stallman to give talk at Waterloo
Freakman @ Wed Feb 14, 2007 9:21 pm wrote:
any more details, ie. is this just for UWaterloo students, or just University students etc. time and date and all that jazz?

For the Bill Gates event, you needed tickets, which got snapped up by the first-priority Math & Eng students. This one probably won't be as popular. If it looks like it will be, they'll set up a webcast to a few of the big lecture halls on campus - they did that for Gates' visit.

So. no, it shouldn't be a problem.
Author:  Neo [ Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Richard Stallman to give talk at Waterloo
Hikaru79 @ Wed Feb 14, 2007 6:46 pm wrote:
According to the Computer Science Club website, April 11th of this year is going to be a big day for Waterloo...
http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/events/Hagey_Hall-2007-04-11-3:30_PM.html wrote:
Richard Stallman will speak about the goals and philosophy of the Free Software Movement, and the status and history the GNU operating system, which in combination with the kernel Linux is now used by tens of millions of users world-wide.

I was a bit upset that I missed Bill Gates when he was here, since I was still in high school, but this makes up for it!


You didn't miss much. It was nothing more than an Xbox 360 promo and Bill Gates is not the most exciting speaker to listen to.
Author:  Clayton [ Fri Feb 16, 2007 10:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Richard Stallman to give talk at Waterloo
There's just something about listening to a multi-billionaire that's appealing though...
Author:  rdrake [ Mon Feb 19, 2007 12:08 am ]
Post subject:  RE:Richard Stallman to give talk at Waterloo
I just couldn't resist...
Posted Image, might have been reduced in size. Click Image to view fullscreen.
Author:  Tony [ Mon Feb 19, 2007 12:27 am ]
Post subject:  RE:Richard Stallman to give talk at Waterloo
Heh, just the other day I was reading about Microsoft trying to hire Eric S. Raymond Laughing
Author:  Martin [ Mon Feb 19, 2007 3:48 am ]
Post subject:  RE:Richard Stallman to give talk at Waterloo
It's true, Richard Stallman (aka rms) is coming to Waterloo. Everyone (students and non-students alike) are welcome to attend!
Author:  bugzpodder [ Mon Feb 19, 2007 1:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Richard Stallman to give talk at Waterloo
i couldnt really careless about Richard Stallman or Bill Gates giving talks at Waterloo. And I can't really understand this big fuss about open source vs proprietary software. Microsoft isnt the only one with proprietary software, and as far as I am concerned, it makes perfect sense to keep software secrets in order to protect profits (which may or may not be the right thing to do, but since when are we giving up profits to do the right thing?). Surely Office is the most popular business software today. If MS were to open their formats, then other companies would have these open source options. This translates to hurting MS' profits and surely MS executives won't be stupid enough to sign off on that!! You don't see Coca Cola releasing their receipe... You don't see drug companies release treatment details, so why should MS be forced to do all this?

And that Eric is an ass for sending that email.
Author:  Clayton [ Mon Feb 19, 2007 4:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Richard Stallman to give talk at Waterloo
funnily enough, I agree completely with Eric and his comments he chose in that e-mail... The fact that there is perfectly lovely software with just as much functionality that is open source is awesome. Sure, Microsoft wants to make money, but they're also making a hell of a lot of enemies, whereas, with say Linux (simply because of OpenOffice as an example) provides just as much functionality for free. My $0.02
Author:  bugzpodder [ Mon Feb 19, 2007 6:20 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Richard Stallman to give talk at Waterloo
Surely, I'd love everything in the world for free. But then again society won't function like this. If all software is free, then no developers will get paid and thus we would all go broke.

btw open source != free in terms of money, fyi. it means free to use under the gnu license and and free to modify.

MS is good at making money. We all know it, and admit it. There is really no need to go piss on them for doing so. There are much worse things in the world to hate for.
Author:  Clayton [ Mon Feb 19, 2007 6:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Richard Stallman to give talk at Waterloo
I realize that, but many many things that are open source are free.
Author:  Martin [ Tue Feb 20, 2007 2:36 am ]
Post subject:  RE:Richard Stallman to give talk at Waterloo
The goal of software isn't free as in beer software, it's free as in speech software. People aren't fighting to force Microsoft to release the source code for Office to the world for free, they're fighting to get them to release their file formats.

As far as the car argument goes, it's akin to making roads that only one kind of car is capable of driving on. If you get to the market first and build all of the roads, then everyone is forced to drive your cars, not because you make good cars, but because otherwise they can't drive.

I for one think that software should be forced to compete based on its merits, not based upon its ability to lock people in. The latter will only lead to bad software over time.
Author:  Brightguy [ Tue Feb 20, 2007 6:09 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Richard Stallman to give talk at Waterloo
Skynet @ Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:14 pm wrote:
For the Bill Gates event, you needed tickets, which got snapped up by the first-priority Math & Eng students.

First-priority, aka friends with someone in MathSoc.

After his talk, there were a bunch of lame-o's with nothing better to do than stand around the door of Hagey Hall for 45 minutes and wait for Bill Gates to come out and walk 3 metres to his escort. When he finally walked out, he stopped and gave a look that distinctly said 'this place is pretty nice... maybe I'll buy it sometime'. For about 1 second, no one moved. After the shock wave passed, people started rushing towards him, some with random requests, some with pen and paper in hand. Bill says nothing but "No time" and quickly ducks into his ride waiting there. A group of people follow the car as it carefully makes its way down the driveway and off campus. Slowly the group scatters.
Author:  bugzpodder [ Tue Feb 20, 2007 6:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Richard Stallman to give talk at Waterloo
when you build a road, you have two options. one is to license the road usage so everyone who uses it pay a service fee; The second is to disallow anyone else on the road (or I guess ultimately you can also play nice and let everyone use it without charging a license fee). And that the first case is difficult to enforce relating to file formats and open source software.

I by no means support what they are doing, but they are going to do it regardless. If you hate it, then choose an open source alternative such as pdf. If you can pave better roads and offer better service, you will efforts will be appreciated. Whining at MS won't help, since they probably won't change and you are just wasting your time.

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