NewsForge: Anger Spews Over Microsoft Appearance at Yet Another Open Source Event

“Now that some people in the Free Software community have
discovered Microsoft’s Shared Source guru Jason Matusow is slated
to speak at the Open Source for National and Local eGovernment
Programs in the U.S.and EU conference, they are gunning for the
show’s organizer.

“Members of the New York Linux Scene (NYLXS), a mega-group that
includes NYLUG, LXNY, and NYFAIRUSE, believe a company whose core
values are antithetical to Open Source should not be allowed to
promote itself during a gathering dedicated to Open Source
software. And they blame the organizer of the event, Tony Stanco.
They’re even discussing plans to stage a protest at the conference
in March.

“In 1999 Stanco was a senior attorney for the Securities and
Exchange Commission. He became enamored with Free Software and
started FreeDevelopers.net in 2000. The premise of FreeDevelopers
was that ‘the community is the company.’ Stanco wanted to see that
Free Software developers would be paid for their work and he
intended to make that happen by securing grants and other funds in
sponsorship of worthy development projects…”

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