Minutes of IFSO Meetings: 2003

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Minutes of IFSO Meetings: 2004

2003 Minutes

Please note: As these meetings occurred prior to the founding of IFSO on 5th January 2004, they are not strictly IFSO meetings. Nevertheless, most of the attendees at these meetings became IFSO members.

1. 11th December 2003
2. 16th October 2003
3. 3rd September 2003
4. 6th August 2003
5. 2nd July 2003

11th December 2003

Notes taken by Glenn Strong

Present:

• Glenn Strong
• Malcolm Tyrrell
• Teresa Hackett
• Ciarán O'Riordan
• Ben North
• Aidan Delaney

The primary focus of the discussion was copyright law, specifically the EUCD and the Enforcement Directive.

• We have committed to giving Tony McGrath our comments in an email on Monday. The most pressing issue is therefore to collect our arguments in a coherent manner by then.
• There was considerable discussion as to what changes/improvements we would like to see in EUCD implementation. Malcolm and Ciarán have already posted on the list about this so I won't rehash their comments.
• Several suggestions were made about groups we should be talking to in Ireland (particularly mentioned were libraries and consumer rights organisations). Teresa will be contacting libraries and will keep us informed.
• There was also some talk about promoting Free Software in schools - John Evans on-list is interested, and Aidan has some experience of doing this.
• Finally, the administrative paperwork to open an IFSO bank account was done, and this should be done by next week.

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16th October 2003

Notes taken by Ciarán O'Riordan, with additional points added by Aiden Delaney

Last Thursday's (16th) meeting was one of the best yet. Buckets of stuff got discussed, but few notes were taken. I've been in over my head with work, so this is late, please add anything I've forgotten.

Attendees:

• Aidan Delaney
• Lorraine Dully
• Ciarán O'Riordan
• Glenn Strong
• Mel McWeeney
• Malcolm Tyrrell
• Some drunk off the street* (5 mins)

Discussion, topics and suggestions:

• There was much talk of what the imminent Irish Free Software Organisation should do and how it should do it.
• Glenn offered to look into registering ifso.ie, and getting some details about what legal entity we could form.
• I talked about a "Business Freedom" project that I'd like to work on to visit companies, explaining what Free Software is and how it would benefit them.
• The drunk off the street attempted to act as a moderator but his alcohol level rendered him ineffective and got him kicked out.
• There was much talk about Beaumont hospital switching to Free Software, for low cost initially but now apparently realising the long term benefits of Free Software. (Tony Kenny was the man in charge.)
• We all discussed the e-voting issue. I think consensus was formed that we should assist a separate group rather than make it an IFSO project. There was unanimous agreement that we should demand permission to view, compile, and test full source code. There was disagreement over the need/practicality of demanding permission to distribute altered versions, but in case of disagreement we would default to demanding fully Free Software, and see how far we can get.
• It was noted that manpower will limit us to working on whatever people will offer to work on, and cash will limit people to work on whatever they can do without financial aid. Initial cash from membership etc. would probably only cover the ifso.ie domain and maybe a run of leaflets.
• Funding was discussed for a minute or two, I suggested initial funding by having a 20quid membership/supporter fee. I don't think there were any disagreements, but no real discussion happened.
• It was noted that aside from regular projects, "fire fighting" will need to be done whenever important issues like bad EU directives pop up.
• I raised the question of whether democracy was a good idea or not, but the discussion was put away for another time.
• Aidan talked about his work on a CD of Debian-stable+GNOME2.4 targeted at primary schools, and the ifso.cs.may.ie domain he has set up. I offered to provide some content (not done yet).
• It was suggested that we should make a regular date for meetings, consensus formed on having them on the second Thursday of each month. Unless challenged on the list, this should happen. (next: Nov 13th)
• GNOME Vs. KDE, obscure useful shell tools (Mel) and a boot load of other topics.
• I'm certain to have forgotten stuff, so reply to the mail if you remember other topics.
• For IFSO, it was decided that we need a written objective

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3rd September 2003

Notes taken by Glenn Strong

Present:

• Robert Fitzsimons
• Ciarán O'Riordan
• Glenn Strong
• Malcolm Tyrrell

Discussion, topics and suggestions:

• Given the current focus, would it be useful to organise an anti e-patent body independent of FFII?
• We could provide a "throwaway" web site (e.g. irish-anti-e-patents.org) that we could direct people to.
• We should assemble a list of current amendments (as they come out)
  • remove the proposer information (to remove any prejudice that may be associated with the name).
  • Identify each as a Yes/No for our position.
  • Briefly discuss our reasoning for each decision.
  • Use these to indicate to our MEPs the kind of amendments we would consider acceptable and unacceptable.
• There was some question as to what would actually happen if the directive was passed - precisely what changes would be made to Irish law?
• We should produce a challenge to Arlene McCarthy's Fact Sheet (that is, a specific response document that addresses the Myth/Fact items McCarthy listed Here: http://vrijschrift.org/swpat/press/final_factsheet1092003.pdf)
• And also, of course, considerable discussion of (among others) hardware, software and recumbent bicycles.

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6th August 2003

Notes taken by Ciarán O'Riordan

Present:

• Mel McWeeney
• Malcolm Tyrrell
• Sean O'Donnell
• Glen Strong
• Ciarán O'Riordan

Discussion, topics, and suggestions:

• The EU patents inflation directive
  • need to understand what exactly is happening on Sept 1st
  • Find out what amendments will be voted on
  • Draft a benchmark for our MEPs: unless amendments X and Y are implemented, you must vote no.
• Forming an organisation:
  • We don't fully understand what we can do as a nonprofit
  • A 5 person committee could work
• IFSO could be a good name (Irish Free Software Org)
  • Look into reserving ifso.ie
  • FIFO is an alternative, it just needs a meaning but it
  • will be hard to mention software in that name
  • (name from previous suggestion by Aidan Delaney)
• Things possible if we had funding:
  • Travel to conferences
  • Leaflets at events/colleges
  • A press pack
  • Tradeshow booths
  • (we didn't really discuss where these funds would come from)
• Membership open to N.Ireland? (consensus: yes)
  • Probably open to all nationalities, meetings in Ireland.
• When should we set up an organisation?
  • Maybe late January
• How do we deal with unDublinising the org?
  • Hold the committee forming meeting in "All other places" :)
  • (Midlands if that's easy for travel, or if there's a cluster of people in one non-Dublin county, we could meet there)
• How should we decide the committee?
  • Democracy? maybe but we don't know each other very well yet.
  • 5-person agreement? and real elections in 1 year. maybe.
• An FSFE-IE website?
  • Maybe a non-official (but official looking) one would be good until we have a committee to maintain a real official site
• Further meetings
  • More frequent similar non-decision-making meetings
  • Maybe another meeting before the Sept 1st patents vote
• Plus the usual C Vs. Haskell Vs. Java and other discussions... (Did I leave anything out or misrepresent anything?)

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2nd July 2003

Notes taken by Ciarán O'Riordan, edited by Malcolm Tyrrell

Of the 11 people who said they'd try to make it, 10 showed up plus two unannounced people.

The meeting started off in Messrs Maguire's pub and later moved to the better venue of <pub> (where <pub> is across the road from O'Neill's behind Trinity, begins with a H) [was Benshaw's Pub, now closed - Malcolm].

Here (verbatim) are the notes that were taken about what we could be doing to fight s/w pats.

1. Acquire analysis of proposal - look around FFII
2. Discover groups to lobby
3. Create form letter
4. Finding Companies & industry groups
5. Mail journalists
6. Calendar
7. Analysis of USA
8. Analysis of alternatives (different patent term)
9. What is status quo
10. Analysis of FSFE-IE & own interests in SW development
11. List of applications whose patenting would have been tragic

Thanks to all who attended.