[Imc-communication] [Imc] UCIMC: Concern about advertisements for Giga-$ non-free software companies

Mon Sep 18 14:00:57 PDT 2006

boud,
My response to your inquiry.

You wrote:
"de facto advertisements..."

Sorry, I don't think a description of a job skill amounts to a de facto 
advertisement any more than you writing an article dissing on said 
product and mentioning it by name would be. Now if we'd provided a link 
to the manufacturer's website, given it an endorsement as "the best 
financial software since sliced bread!" (it's not) and told everyone 
that it was going to be on sale next week, that would be an 
advertisement. I think "de facto" is simply your way of trying to argue 
that it's something more than what it wasn't, an advertisement.

boud continues:
"(2) you *require* indymedia paid workers to be able to use non-free 
software
(3) you seem to be supporting the use of non-free software companies
on a long-term basis.
(4) There are plenty of free software packages for financial management "

Basically, that's because that is the software that we use for our 
finances. We do provide training, but since the work involves sensitive 
financial date, we'd like to have someone who will not create a mess in 
the system trying to learn. Besides, it would be pointless for a person 
to try to go to the trouble of applying to accomplish a task for which 
they do not have the skills required. Having skills, even in a product 
you might personally never use otherwise, is useful.

I do not know whether any of the free software packages you mention were 
available when we made the decision to use said software was made six 
years ago. Notice how my making a point of not further offending you by 
avoiding use of the brand name is rather silly and lacks clarity, 
another reason to not getting too anal and censorious about the use of 
discourse.

Given that we anticipated the financial record keeping and auditing 
required by our 501c3 status when we made that decision (six years ago 
also), we were also somewhat limited in our choices. Going with a 
commercial product was likely the only choice we had, given the need to 
allow others to review our records in formats that support sharing of 
such data easily. Maybe not. Maybe someone else has a better memory that 
far back and can add details. Anyway, we now have six years of financial 
data that would need to be converted to something else in order to 
utilize freeware, assuming it is even appropriate. We have plenty of 
work to do without adding a large burden to achieve a result of very 
limited meaning. Maybe when we get caught up with higher priority 
projects and can find someone who has the skills for the task who is 
willing to volunteer, we'll consider this conversion.

boud continues:
"i'm also a volunteer in the new-imc working group, where we try to
explain to new groups why things like free software are an important
part of our struggle to create free media. Making tactical compromises
is understandable."

Essentially, yes, our use of this specific software was a tactical 
decision. But I also know that many other IMCs make tactical decisions 
to use commercial software for a variety of tasks, like editing audio 
and video, etc, which is far more directly media-relevant than using 
commercial software for our financial record keeping needs.

I think it's a good thing to encourage as much use of opensource 
software as possible. Thanks for doing that. But I personally would find 
it troublesome and counterproductive if that were an absolute 
requirement. Making people the media is a task that sometimes requires 
people to use the tools they have easily available and know how to use, 
especially if they don't have a lot of technical support expertise in 
their collective. Keeping otherwise viable collectives from becoming 
IMCs because they have only limited opensource support that does not 
meet a certain artificial standard seems problematic to me. I hope that 
isn't happening.

UC IMCs public use computers use a freeware OS. Our website runs Dada, a 
well-known although relatively long-in-tooth opensource system that we 
hope to soon replace. Our LPFM radio station uses some opensource stuff, 
but here again tactical considerations force us to use commercial 
software for certain system, like our required emergency alert system. 
UC IMC fostered CUWin, an opensource wireless internet project that is 
being developed specifically to help communities anywhere to put up 
accessible internet access. We are currently building the new UC IMC 
website with Drupal and will likely develop several IMC-specific modules 
for it so that more IMCs can take advantage of another open source 
option in the future.

I don't think UC IMC has any misunderstandings about the commitment to 
encourage the adoption of freeware, to the extent that it is possible 
and the best tactical solution. Frankly, taking away limited coding and 
administrative resources from media work useful to others in the 
Indymedia network and beyond to try to adapt something to replace our 
current system that may not really be totally suitable seems pointless. 
Like many IMCs, we have "just enough" technical support and a 
not-directly-relevant to media-making project such as you propose would 
be a low priority, even if we want to move in that direction.

Finally, while I think alternative participatory economic ideas are 
something that members of UC IMC generally support and are of interest, 
such a project requires more than a single organization to implement. It 
requires widespread community support from both consumers and producers. 
While such schemes have been discussed in our community in the past, 
they have yet to take root. Certainly, UC IMC will be here and available 
to help with such organizing by providing media and other resources, 
when and if it happens.

So far though, when we have to pay for goods and service, people want 
paid in dollars. We'll keep it in mind. No revolution worth having is 
done in a day.
Mike Lehman

boud wrote:
> [to: UC IMC; cc: imc-communication]
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> SUMMARY:
> i'm rather concerned about your announcement about jobs at UCIMC:
> (0) Evidence: http://www.ucimc.org/mod/info/display/jobs/index.php
> (1) you have de facto advertisements for non-free Giga-$ software 
> companies
> (2) you *require* indymedia paid workers to be able to use non-free 
> software
> (3) you seem to be supporting the use of non-free software companies
> on a long-term basis.
> (4) There are plenty of free software packages for financial management
> GnuCash: http://gnucash.org/
> SQL-ledger: http://www.sql-ledger.org/
> http://cbbrowne.com/info/financefreesoft.html
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> Dear ucimc,
>
> i'm a volunteer in imc poland, in the local collective in Toruń:
> http://pl.indymedia.org
> http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Local/ImcTorun
> http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-pl-torun
>
> i'm also a volunteer in the new-imc working group, where we try to
> explain to new groups why things like free software are an important
> part of our struggle to create free media. Making tactical compromises
> is understandable.  However, for an experienced imc to make an
> advertisement for multi-billion dollar companies making non-free
> software, and, moreover, to start legal, financial relations with
> "employees" who are expected to support these multi-billion dollar
> companies making non-free software, seems rather incompatible with
> indymedia principles. We do not totally exclude compromises with the
> monetary system, but the political costs should be balanced with the
> advantages.
>
> If one of the oldest imc's seems unable to use free software, this
> could make it hard to convince new groups of the necessity of becoming
> independent from multi-billion dollar corporations.
>
>
>
> (0) Evidence: Quotes from your job advertisement: 
> http://www.ucimc.org/mod/info/display/jobs/index.php
>
>> IMC Treasurer - Job Description
>> ... manage the bookkeeping of the organization using Quickbooks.
>
>> IMC Bookkeeper
>> Manages and records all IMC financial transactions using Quickbooks,
>> including bills, invoices, rent, donations, disbursements, etc.
>
>> IMC Membership Coordinator
>> Recieves and enters membership form data using Excel
>
>
>
> (1) you have de facto advertisements for non-free Giga-$ software 
> companies
>
> These ads for Quickbooks and Excel amount to advertisements for:
>
> - the $2 billion for-profit company Intuit
>   Inc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intuit,_Inc.
>
> - one of the world's major sponsors of state terrorism (through
>   sponsorship of the Republicrat Party in the USA), the multi-billion
>   dollar corporation Microsoft:
>   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Excel
>
>
> (2) you *require* indymedia paid workers to be able to use non-free 
> software
>
> People who want the UCIMC positions are necessarily going to have to 
> learn to use the software - since it's a requirement presented in the 
> advertisement. They presumably, once employed, will be in a weak position
> to insist on switching to free software, since political decisions should
> surely be made by the collective of volunteers rather than by paid 
> employeees.
>
>
> (3) you seem to be supporting the use of non-free software companies
> on a long-term basis.
>
>
> Since UCIMC is one of the oldest IMCs, it's hard to believe that you
> have never heard of the arguments in favour of free software, or that
> you do not know how to use google to find free software equivalents.
>
> If you really have difficulty finding good free software, you could
> always write to the imc-tech mailing list:
>  http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-tech
>
> for help in finding free software equivalents. Or even ask informally
> in many places in the indymedia network.
>
>
>
> (4) There are plenty of free software packages for financial management
>
> The most obvious alternatives to quickbooks being:
>
> GnuCash: http://gnucash.org/
> SQL-ledger: http://www.sql-ledger.org/
>
> You'll find a long list here:
> http://cbbrowne.com/info/financefreesoft.html
>
>
> As for "Excel", i suggest:
>
> gnumeric (standard in any GNU/linux distribution)
>
>
>
> In case UCIMC has somehow misunderstood the commitment of most indymedia
> collectives to the use of free software or doesn't understand its role
> in social change movements, here is a quote from the Principles of Unity:
>
> http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/PrinciplesOfUnity
>
> 9. All IMC's shall be committed to the use of free source code,
>    whenever possible, in order to develop the digital infrastructure,
>    and to increase the independence of the network by not relying on
>    proprietary software.
>
>
> i would suggest that you start reading at:
>
> http://www.gnu.org
>
>
> Digital independence is not an issue to be taken lightly.
>
> Apart from the political aspect of the question of whether or not to
> support billion-dollar non-free corporations, this is also an issue of
> security for activists - holding their financial and personal
> information (full names, addresses, bank account numbers? etc.) on a
> computer running micro$oft is a security risk and unnecessarily makes
> that information available to state security forces (who can
> relatively easily crack any micro$oft computer, which by definition is
> insecure).
>
>
> solidarity
> boud (speaking as an individual)
>
>
> PS: My own suggestion if any indymedia collectives wishes to start having
> employees would be to experiment with the participatory economics model:
>  http://www.parecon.org
> It does not reject money, but it is a serious attempt at proposing an
> alternative economic model.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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