Web Strike - 1st of June

Given that people here seem to understand what this protest is about and judging by Bart's poll being very much in favor of this protest going ahead, surely democracy should hold true? Really, if people don't want to support this go ahead and vote against it!!!

Over 170 people dont care by the looks of it. So 12 peoples opinions get to close down the site for the day?

Anyone got a URL for whoever is proposing and organising this strike?

Over 170 people dont care by the looks of it. So 10 peoples opinions get to close down the site for the day?

Isn't that how voting works? If you care you vote one way or another and in a democracy you respect the views of the majority.

I get the feeling that some noses have been rubbed the wrong way

Isn't that how voting works? If you care you vote one way or another and in a democracy you respect the views of the majority.

Yea, but you can read it as 170 people dont think this has anything to with an astronomy board.

I get the feeling that some noses have been rubbed the wrong way

Working for a large corporation I can see the _need_ for patents and we also invests heavily in `open source software`, and I have written software under the GNU license. I can see both sides of this argument. Personally I think some form of patent system is needed in Europe, not a copy of the US one mind you (eg amazons doubleclick is a prime example of something that should never have been granted), it needs to be accessable, thorough, and the officers need to know the subject matter, and lawers need to stopped from over-generalising the patents.

The software we use is US based where its flourished despite crazy software patent laws, so the free software would die argument goes out the window. If people want to protest a better tactic would surely be to pester the people looking for your MEP votes, and they DO need to be pestered to ensure we dont go down the US road with this.

Anyway, pm or email me if you want to discus it further.

astronomy anyone?

Cheers,
~Al

Ok Al, you've lost me now!

Seriously, I think there's only a handful of people here who fully understand the whole issue and they most likely work in the IT industry and would be far more knowledgeable than the average Joe Soap like myself or 99% of the members here.

To the average irishastronomy.org user, the issue to me is simple:
The IFAS webmaster feels an issue has arisen which, from his professional experience, he considers a threat to the future of how this website will operate. He has asked for us to vote Yes or No to a proposed form of action.

Personally, I would have to row in behind Bart on this. He's served us very well and if he feels the proposed action is worthy of the issue then I'm willing to trust him. True, I genuinely do not fully understand the issue, but I'm willing to apply a little trust. Besides, how much harm will one single day do? This site has often been down for more than one day but this level of debate never arose on any of those previous occassions.

However, I think the debate has been well worth while; not so much as to what the nitty-gritty of the issue is but rather how such actions should be implemented in future. In an ideal world such actions could perhaps, in future, be raised at metings of the IFAS committee where they can be approved or rejected. However, as I understand and feel free to correct me here, these meetings may not always be held at regular and frequent intervals throughout the year. Perhaps in those circumstances where action may be required more urgently, the IFAS "commander-in-chief" could make a decision on the matter. Does that sound fair and reasonable?

Michael

Isn't that how voting works? If you care you vote one way or another and in a democracy you respect the views of the majority.

Yea, but you can read it as 170 people dont think this has anything to with an astronomy board.

I get the feeling that some noses have been rubbed the wrong way

Working for a large corporation I can see the _need_ for patents and we also invests heavily in `open source software`, and I have written software under the GNU license. I can see both sides of this argument. Personally I think some form of patent system is needed in Europe, not a copy of the US one mind you (eg amazons doubleclick is a prime example of something that should never have been granted), it needs to be accessable, thorough, and the officers need to know the subject matter, and lawers need to stopped from over-generalising the patents.

The software we use is US based where its flourished despite crazy software patent laws, so the free software would die argument goes out the window. If people want to protest a better tactic would surely be to pester the people looking for your MEP votes, and they DO need to be pestered to ensure we dont go down the US road with this.

Anyway, pm or email me if you want to discus it further.

astronomy anyone?

Cheers,
~Al

albert,
it is all well and good to have a patent system but this one is clearly an abuse of power. i read somewhere recently microsoft is in the process of filing 13,000 patents. surely that cannot be a good thing. clearly the muppets that are our elected representatives have no idea of the issues involved and this lastest attempt is being brought to you via the irish government and microsoft. if you give them an inch without at least putting up a fight they take a mile. it maybe a bit extreme to take the whole site down but maybe a message saying we support it and a link to a page explaining the issues would be a compromise?.
stephen.