[PLUG] Kudos to Michael

[Michael Dexter]

On 8/9/14 10:42 AM, Bill Kielhorn wrote:
> Lucky for Michael, he now has a variety of opinions
> concerning AK-47 talks.

Every announcement includes:

Why: The pursuit of technology freedom

Having overseen the first and only construction of the OGD1 ( Open 
Graphics Device http://linuxfund.org/projects/ogd1/ ) back when OpenMoko 
was exciting and long before Raspberry Pi's and countless new "open" 
devices, I will assert that I know something about "open hardware" and 
its challenges from both a technical and licensing perspective. The 
"maker" community has been brought up and yes, they have a very natural 
sense of "sharing" their work but your average participant is not aware 
that the software freedom crowd has spent decades refining the licenses 
they apply to their shared work. See: opensource.org (and recall the 
shirt I handed out).

That said, the fact that the design of the AK-47 is de facto in the 
public domain and that its resulting objects are statistically 
significant, it is safe to say that the AK-47 just may be the most 
successful open hardware project human history and we had one of the 
most-researched authorities to talk about it (considering that they know 
more about BATFE rules than the majority of state-level law 
enforcement). In addition to this, the speaker is an Intel Linux Distro 
(YOCTO) release engineer, PLUG speaker (AT meeting on YOCTO) and recent 
OSCON keynote speaker. As this talk was well-received at 
OpenSourceBridge, one of the most politically-correct events in the open 
source community, I stand firmly behind this talk and its speaker. I 
have received much positive feedback and, with the speaker's impending 
travel plans, this was probably the one time we could have this speaker 
and talk, just as we needed a milestone to draw Linus Torvalds.

At best, a minority of attendees have missed key points of the talk. As 
a free-of-charge event run by volunteers, a dissatisfied PLUG attendees 
must simply walk out and reconsider their future attendance of PLUG 
events. The past talks listed at pdxlinux.org will demonstrate that the 
Portland Linux/Unix Group is not, by any measurements a "buncha gun 
nuts" or fans of any particular on-topic or off-topic technology freedom 
subject or project. As for the "Linux" focus, PLUG meets or exceeds the 
world expectation of having a monthly hands-on clinic/install fest and 
LINUS TORVALDS as a speaker.

At worse, because our speaker was a non-white-male, I fear that this 
fact could draw criticism by proxy of either the speaker or myself as an 
organizer.

On that point: Sexism and homophobia will not be tolerated in any 
PLUG-related activity and all members are expected to call attention to 
what they feel are intentional or unintentional violations of this 
common sense and common courtesy rule. *I* have unintentionally broken 
this rule when I asked if a woman at an AT meeting had come with 
someone. For this I am sorry and I hope my good intentions were 
communicated at the meeting and that she will continue to participate in 
PLUG and ultimately give a talk.

Michael Dexter
PLUG Volunteer