This week's article is being written on Air-France's flight number
2000,
from Hawaii to Paris. My brand-new laptop (PIII 700 MHz, 512 Mb RAM/10
Gb HD)
rocks and I had the authorization to use it even during takeoffs and
landings
(Thanks to the Airbus on-board high-tech controller).
This month, I was invited to the
Kro$soft's expo Hawaii to give a talk on Free Software and how to
use
it to make BIG money.
On my way to the expo, I wandered on the Hawaii islands. It was an
enjoyable
trip. I was lucky enough to bring my new Windsurfing board and sail (I
had
one of those 80% carbon mast which is sooo light and cool) and tried
them
on one of those great spots known to the world where waves reach 10
meters
high. We had great weather conditions and a good strong 30 knots
sideshore
wind. It was a great time!
I was struck by the way locals use words: they used to call
me
"fucking
rich tourist". I don't know why. I probably did not understand fully the
rationale behind all this. However, I had a great time trying to find a
brothel and, having found one, was disappointed to discover that none of
the girls there spoke English or French. These things happen...
Brothels, however, was exactly what our conference was about.
I
happily
discovered that many of my email-friends were there. They did not
disappoint
me. We discussed globalization and one of them raised an interesting
idea:
he explained us he had found a new Asian country where labor was even
cheaper
than everywhere else. Unfortunately, He would not reveal the exact
geographical location,
but the few hints he gave us should be sufficient to find it.
I think I'll send two or three guys from my staff to have a look at
this. It may
be a great opportunity.
However, I was unpleasantly surprised to discover how many
Free
Software people
there were at the conference. Not people like me or Billy but freaks
like this
RMS crazy guy or a guy called Raph Levien. Each of them gave a talk on
the
"true philosophy of Free Software". This was just a heap of left-wing
crazyness and I doubt either of them had a grasp on the true nature of
the
market. To make things worse, they were obviously poor - one of
them had an old
rusty laptop and they were dressed like beggars (one did not even have
decent shoes:
he wore socks and sandals!).
What made me shiver the most was the incredible crowd
attending
this
talk and
all these poor not very well organized booths which were around. These
guys
had obviously come in Hawaii by boat as hidden passengers. This was
desperating...
Hopefully, there were good talks by a few of my friends:
Coral
people
anounced
they were stopping all support for Free Software users. They announced
their future
use of Windaube as the core Operating System for all their products. How
refreshing
this was !! Finally, people get to understand the true nature and
usefulness of
proprietary software. This guy developed an interesting new argument. He
explained
that free software is a pain in the neck because it gives users full
power over the software:
you can't control the way they use it and if you do it wrong, users not
only complain
(which is bearable provided they do it quietly enough) but they also
change the product
to match their needs!! What a horror!! Can you imagine our world
continuing
to look like this?
My talk with Billy went very well. There were many people in
the
public who
were interested by our new company which offers new proprietary
software. I am
confident in our ability to make them wait till we have added all the
necessary bugs
in our software. I am pretty convinced we will crush all these Free
Software people
very soon :)
Overall, I had a great time there: I was warmly welcomed by
local
proprietary
software developers. Billy from Kro$oft was a nice chap. He even paid
the bill
in the restaurant and the brothel :)
I'll be back in Hawaii soon. In less than a month, I'll be
attending
the Kro$oft symposium on Windaube and I hope that many of you will come
!
Sarcasm? A cracking? I honestly don't think it was a crack, but
really, who cares? It was entertaining, if completely random. I
suppose that that's the most you can ask for out of articles. I got
lost on the bit about windsurfing and brothels, since that doesn't seem
to have anything whatsoever remotely to do with advogato or free
software, but sometimes brains work in a very roundabout way, so what
the hell.
I'll say, (quite guardedly) thanks for posting this article. It was a
complete change of pace type of interesting read. I think.