Some hard love (Free software oriented, beware)
I’ve been a long time listener of the Linux Action Show by the duo behind what eventually became the Jupiter Broadcasting project. And quite frankly – I’m a fan: while I’m not a YouTube watcher (I don’t have enough free time in front of a screen) I’m registered to all their audio feeds and like most of what Bryan and Chris and co. are doing.
That being said, when they announced that the Linux Action Show is no more shall be from hence forth known as The Computer Action Show I was a little apprehensive – Bryan and Chris have grown quite a bit judgmental and critic of the whole open source/free software community at large, and often lashed out at companies and organizations that “hurt the open source community”, not by acting against FL/OSS but by not doing things in very specific ways that Bryan and Chris felt would be better for FL/OSS adoption in the general populace.
So when they announced this very serious change I felt that this is the final step in that saga and Jupiter Broadcasting is not going to air a Linux/Free Software show any more. After listening to the rest of that first episode, I decided its not going to be that big of a change – more of shifting attention towards general computing and technology stuff, which I like – so no harm done. I did wish that the new direction means they’d lay off a bit from bashing the free software community.
Boy was I mistaken. The second Computer Action Show episode released this week introduced a whole new level of bashing the FSF, and I can’t stay silent on that. I have a lot more to say but in the interest of bringing the discussion close to the source, I’m saying it on Jupiter Broadcasting’s blog. If you’re interested in this kind of (anti-)evangelism, I’d recommend listening to the show (where they also cover a lot of other interesting stuff, like the Nokia N900 which is going to be awesome) and then take a part in the discussion here.
Last thing – Chris and Bryan, if you’re reading this – don’t take it too hard. I think you guys are great and you do an excellent work with your shows. Keep being awesome, and I just wish you’d stop being so negative of the people that are doing the work – and yes, the FSF are also doing some good work even if its not always very public.