FOSDEM and Novell
Sigh.
I'm not part of the FOSDEM organisation team, and this is by choice. I know that I wouldn't find the time to help organize a conference of the scale of FOSDEM, since I'm rather liable to forget to do important things at times.
Having said that, I happen to run a company together with Philip Paeps, who is now one of the main FOSDEM organizers; apart from that, I've also managed the Debian presence there for the past few years (lost count how many exactly), and arranged the key signing party for a few years—with Joost Van Baal taking over for me starting this year. As such, I'd like to believe that although I'm not exactly in to all their secrets, I do have a front-row seat when it comes to how things are going there.
FOSDEM is the "Free and Open Source Developers' European Meeting". It has been that since 2001, and will always remain so. Yes, originally it was called "OSDEM", because frankly, the organisation of the original OSDEM was done by a group of people who like Open Source, without necessarily subscribing to the Free Software ideals. The core group of the organisation is a rather diverse group; for instance, Philip has been known to be rather... negative... about Ubuntu, while Mark (one of the press contacts) has done some activism and translation work for Ubuntu.
The change of name from OSDEM to FOSDEM was done not because the organisation's ideas about software were changed overnight by a mail from Richard Stallman or anyone else from the FSF; but rather, because they were open-minded enough to understand that having a name which only says 'Open Source' would be excluding a considerable part of the community that encompasses both Free and Open Source people. This is why the name wasn't changed in FSDEM; it is FOSDEM.
I'm quite sure that the fact that FOSDEM is so open-minded about many of the controversial issues that have separated our community over the years—not just Open Source vs Free Software, but so many other things as well—is one of the main reasons why FOSDEM is so popular today: because everyone, and I truly mean everyone, will find something that he or she likes.
That is why I'm so saddened that some people seem to find it necessary to not only whine, but also boycott a conference, because they believe that FOSDEM should not take money from a big Free Software/Open Source contributor, just because they also happen to be a company, and as such make business deals with Microsoft. Note that I'm not either defending or condemning Novell's attitude here; but it is a fact that not everyone in the larger Free and Open Source community feels the same way about the whole Novell/Microsoft deal (else there wouldn't be an openSUSE anymore), and as such they still deserve a place on FOSDEM.
Over the history of the organisation of FOSDEM, it's always been a place where everyone could get their opinion out; whether it be the opinion that "Free Software Must Rule The World", or that "It's All About The Way You Do Things"; as long as your opinion is shared by a large enough number of people in the larger FLOSS community, it is welcome.
I feel that blocking one organization from sponsoring the event, just because they have made some deals which a significant group of people, one which nevertheless does not encompass the whole of the FLOSS community, disapprove of, would set a dangerous precendent that might jeopardize the very core of what makes FOSDEM so great: its impartiality.
Thank god that didn't happen.
I read through your long blog post wondering what all the fuss was about, then I noticed that one of the posts you link is yet another rant by MJ Ray.
What really surprises me, is that in 2009 there's still people who put effort into responding to what he writes. No, seriously, Wouter, if you still bother about what MJ Ray writes, you need to get a life.
What I'm amazed is that people seem to overlook that I wrote "I’m not going to FOSDEM again because there are better value-for-money events around now" right near the start of the article. I'm not boycotting it due to Novell and this article is inaccurate to suggest otherwise!
I feel that both Novell-haters and company-blinders should try to find some compromise instead of flaming each other from twenty paces. It looks to me like the Novell-haters request (roughly: tell us how much to donate to get rid of them) is a reasonable request. If the organisers are so open-minded, why not make a counter-offer instead of simple defence?
Anyway, if you're going to FOSDEM, I hope you have a safe journey and an enjoyable conference! If you're helping run FOSDEM, thank you!