[ILUG] [Fwd: Linux on TV3]

[Noel Carroll]

Gerard Keating wrote...
> Cormac McClean wrote:
> 
> >> But I'm outraged by TV3's choice of speakers lined up from 
> the program
> 
> Why?
> 
> It looks like they went for a speaker from both sides of the 
> fence. Agenda is a
> news/current affairs program not a propaganda vehicle for linux..
> 

Quite right.  Like it or not, a lot of the linux movement is based on
propoganda.  Sometimes when you're so close to something you try to remove
the splinter from your neighbout's eye without ever seeing the plank in your
own.  Microsoft do FUD, we zealously oppose.  There is nothing more off
putting to a viewer than two diametrically opposing camps going at each
other in a technical arena on TV.  Especially on a Sunday morning.   I think
People want an intelligent debate rather than a 'My OS is better than your
OS' posturing contest.  This isn't saying that ILUG cannot present an
intelligent debat, far from it.  The difference is that on ILUG, a good way
to get flamed is to mention a good aspect of Microsoft core business.  So we
do not like Microsoft, thats fine, but trying to act like they don't exist
is completely different.  This is one problem inherent in the Linux movement
as a whole.  I believe that, as interviewees, MS and IBM are more evenly
matched for an interview.  IBM have swung a lot of their products and
services behind Linux, so their arguments are more evenly matched.  Since
this is going to be much more of a business/stategy discussion than a
roundup of the technical merits of either platform, I think TV3 made a good
choice.  All I can hope for now is that I don't sleep in!