[ILUG] - Press Release -- ILUG Refutes Claims made on Morning Ireland about MyDoom and Linux/OSS community

[Paul Flynn]

I would like to say well done as well

AJ McKee wrote:

>2nd February 2004
>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
>For more information about Linux in Ireland:
>
>Contact: 	AJ McKee
>Phone:	353(0) 86 380 93 64
>		353(0) 1 278 96 26
>Email:	pro at linux.ie
>Web: 		www.linux.ie
>
>Irish Linux Users Group Refutes Claims made on Morning Ireland about
>MyDoom and Linux/OSS community
>
>Dublin, Ireland, 2nd February 2004 . 
>
>ILUG (Irish Linux User Group), strongly refutes the claims made by
>Mr. William Campbell on RTE Radio 1's Morning Ireland, in relation to
>the "MyDoom" virus currently spreading across the internet and that the
>virus can be attributed to the Linux/Open Source community.
>
>Although not directly affected by the "MyDoom" virus, ILUG and the
>Linux/Open Source community joins in the condemnation of this and all
>other computer worms and viruses as being a violation of the computer
>user's right to use their computer and serve only to further inhibit
>free, open information & knowledge exchange. We do however feel that
>the RTE report lacked objectivity and represented our community in a
>misleading light.
>
>A number of statements were made by Mr William Campbell of Bua Training,
>which grossly misrepresented the Linux & Open Source Community in
>Ireland.
>
>Mr Campbell stated he suspected the open source community of developing
>and deploying this software. We find this statement offensive,
>irresponsible and made without any reasonable thought or evidence to
>suggest any Open Source Software community involvement.
>
>Furthermore, the suggestions that Linux, OpenOffice.org and Star Office
>are companies are simply wrong. Linux is a free operating system
>developed
>by many people and companies world wide in the spirit of cooperation,
>with no one individual owning the rights to the software. This is also
>true for OpenOffice.org while Star Office is a product of Sun
>Microsystems. Linux & Open Source Software is in use successfully by
>many Irish Companies, including RTE.
>
>SPAM and Viruses represent serious issues for Linux and the Open Source
>Community, and as such the Open Source Community has spent many man
>years developing ways to prevent spam and viruses from affecting
>computer users. SPAMASSASSIN which helps combat junk email was created
>and is maintained by Irish Open Source Developers. SPAMASSASSIN and
>other Open Source Software Community products such as Clam Anti Virus
>can detect and safely remove the "MyDoom" virus before it can reach
>users of vulnerable commercial operating systems
>
>Linux & Open Source Software companies employ many Irish people and
>enjoy continued success both nationally and on the global arena and
>welcome fair and level competition with larger commercial operating
>system vendors.
>
>Open Source Software is written and subsequently licensed under what is
>known as an Open Source Licence. This software has been placed under
>that licence voluntarily by the author. The author may be a company or
>an individual who may or may not receive any payment for the work, but
>in fact a lot of work is done by employees within commercial companies
>(e.g. IBM, Sun, HP and SCO). This is then provided to members of the
>general public free of charge as a viable alternative to other
>commercial software.
> 
>ILUG respectfully requests that Mr. Campbell publicly clarify his
>statements made in relation to the Linux and the Open Source Software
>community in Ireland. Additionally, we request that RTE allow us to
>refute Mr. Campbell's statements publicly so as to help undo some of the
>damage we feel may have been caused to our organisation.
>
>
>About ILUG
>
>The Irish Linux Users Group (ILUG) was set up in 1997 to promote
>awareness of the Linux operating system within Ireland. The ILUG also
>acts as a focal point both for developers wishing to contribute to the
>Open Source Software movement and for users of all levels seeking to
>solve their individual technical issues. Much of the everyday
>interaction revolves around our free mailing lists. Additionally our web
>site contains a lot of valuable information for everyone including a
>list of hardware and software vendors who deal with Linux, an area for
>beginners, a library containing books and software CDs for loan, and a
>downloads area where software written by members of the ILUG is freely
>available. Membership of the ILUG is free and is open to anyone. For
>more information about ILUG and Linux in Ireland, please visit
>www.linux.ie
>
>
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