Ideological differences when representing Ubuntu in events.

[Dan Trevino]

On Sun, Apr 4, 2010 at 6:05 PM, Efrain Valles <effie-jayx at ubuntu.com> wrote:
> I would like to salute everyone out there representing Ubuntu in
> events around the globe. With this email, The Venezuelan Team seeks a
> bit of council with regards the things we go through when we decide to
> go out and promote Ubuntu in our country. We seek to share experiences
> and possible solutions that you around the globe may have found when
> facing similar situations.
>
> Since its beginnings, Ubuntu-ve has participated in the National
> Congress of Free Software and many other events where we share with
> sister projects of distributions and lugs. In recent years, the
> Ubuntu-ve has been put in situations where we participate in events
> and there is always a speaker or organizer of the event questioning
> Ubuntu's commitment with software freedom. This is something that we
> all know could lead to endless unfruitful conversations about ethics
> and other aspects. It is a good thing that over the years Ubuntu as a
> project has proved its solid commitment to Software Freedom and
> Ubuntu-ve has tried hard to convey that in our Local participation.
>
> This year, The National Summit of Free Software considered leaving out
> Ubuntu all together based on the differences between GNU project in
> Venezuela and their opinion on Ubuntu as Free Software.
>
> My worry lies with members that are joining the team and they see
> themselves being pointed at and receiving all this negative 5 year-old
> FUD statements that really wear out the spirit in some of the younger
> members of the team in really remote areas.
>
> I am sure Ubuntu-ve is not alone in this situation and I would
> definitely love to read you experiences with this issue. The
> Venezuelan Team would be very energized to read yoru thoughts.
>
> Warm hugs from Venezuela
>
> --
> Efrain Valles
> Ubuntu LoCo Council Member
> https://launchpad.net/~effie-jayx

Efrain, in my experience this usually boils down to personality.
Which is to say, I have no idea how to help.  I occasionally run
across people in my local LUG who "hate" Ubuntu, but what that really
usually means is they "hate" that Ubuntu is more popular than their
pet disto.  Either that, or they're free software purists.

When the latter happens, I usually find its better to give a little
ground.  It is a fact that Ubuntu ships some binary blobs.  But there
seems to be a perception that a default install is loaded down with
Nvidia drivers and mp3 libraries.  As you know, this just isn't the
case.  I point out that 90% of the non-free pieces of Ubuntu are user
installable choices.  Sometimes this helps, sometimes it doesn't.  I
also used to flash my FSF card, before I let my membership expire :(.
(note to self, renew fsf membership)

Good luck.
dan
---
Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Open Standards!