Cooking With Linux

In case you've been away, there's been a bit of a mini-firestorm over an event that took place last week. It's about a teacher who, upon witnessing one of her students doing a Linux demo for other students and handing out live CDs confiscated then, then started a war. You can read about it on the Blog of Helios or watch my WFTL Bytes! coverage of the event.

Truth be told, I've been thinking about this story a lot more than I thought I would. After all, when I first reported it in my WFTL Bytes!, I made fun of it "Oh, no! Linux is under siege! Should I wear the general's press hat?"  It is, in fact, scary that somebody like Karen thinks as she does (from a FOSS perspective, that is), but she was, as I reasoned then, one person. Hardly an army. 

Then came the explosion of posts, both for and against, in the community. My reaction was surprise, but I found it interesting enough to want ompaul to post his take on it. Which got me thinking, and thinking . . .

 So, here's my take on this, and maybe this makes me a bad person. Who knows? But . . . Karen, if that is her name, fired the first volley. She attacked Ken Starks and threatened him with legal action. She attacked his integrity and labeled him a criminal. I don't know Mr. Starks other than through his postings and some of his efforts to promote Linux (e.g. the Linux Indy 500 car). I can't and won't speak of his character beyond what shows up in print. All I can say for sure is that he appears to be a man who is passionate about his beliefs regarding Linux and FOSS and is willing to stick his neck on the line for those beliefs. 

Enter Karen. She witnesses an event that she interprets as potentially illegal, largely due to her ignorance on the subject. Ignorance in and of itself isn't a crime, but it can lead you to criminal behavior if you aren't careful. Upon seizing the disks, she makes to attempt to discover if her student is telling the truth. She doesn't check into the license that covers the software the student is handing out. She assumes he is lying and that he is stealing. She acts entirely out of ignorance. Her first attack is upon her student's integrity. The she turns her sights on Mr. Starks and attacks his integrity while threatening legal action.

Faced with such a firebrand, and with the possibility that the police might be knocking at my door (being innocent doesn't mean you don't get arrested, spend time in jail, or have your character forever tainted), I can easily imagine that someone might launch their own defensive volley by telling the world what just happened before the police come knocking. In the Internet age, it's easy to think that taking your troubles public affords you some protection, as though the crowds (who are mostly there to see the crashes) would jump in and protect you from the law.

Karen launched a private attack. Ken Starks took it public. Both may well share some of the blame for the events that unfolded next. However, neither is fully to blame for the reaction of the community, both for and against.

If a public story is interesting enough, and apparently this one was (and is), then people will take sides and let loose their own assault of words.

Han shot first, despite what several clumsy touch-ups from Lucasfilm have tried to cover up. But we still think of him as a hero.

Karen shot first. The touch-ups are still being applied, not by a film company, but by a community of thousands. Is she hero or villain? Is Starks hero or villain? Karen may yet walk away with the best outcome, given that Mr. Starks has thrown himself (albeit obliquely) on his sword. 

How the community reacted is another matter. And I am not just talking about the Linux/FOSS community, but that interconnected community of bloggers, reporters, Tweeters, Denters, etc.  

In the end, as with so many stories, the story that covers the story turns to be the most interesting.