We'll see | Matt Zimmerman

There has been some discussion recently about Mark Shuttleworth’s keynote at LinuxCon, in particular a comment he made in passing about the need to explain to “girls” about free software.  I haven’t had much time for writing since then, but a few people have asked me what I thought about it, so I thought I should say something.

First, a few things to note:

• Yes, I was there, in person, at the event, in the audience, during the keynote
• Mark is my direct manager at Canonical, and occupies various positions of authority in the Ubuntu community
• I am speaking mainly for myself, and in part on behalf of the Ubuntu community (not Canonical)
• I briefly spoke to Mark in private about what he had said, shortly after his talk, before saying anything publicly

The remark in question was sexist, and although it may seem small in itself, it is representative of an attitude which is harmful to the community.

I think that Mark cares about the health of the free software community, and the Ubuntu community in particular. I don’t think that he set out to exclude and alienate women, but he did so without meaning to. It was a mistake. It was a mistake which very likely had deep, unconscious roots. I make such mistakes myself, more often than I would like.  My own mistakes are the most difficult to see and grapple with, so I can identify with his situation.  I, too, care about the health of the community, which is why I’m speaking up.

Mark probably didn’t realize that he was othering, or invoking a pattern of men explaining things to women. His intent was to make his (overwhelmingly male) audience laugh, and they did laugh. Now, it’s clear that some people didn’t find it funny, and were made uncomfortable by it, some to the extent that they want nothing to do with Ubuntu because of this attitude. The fact that it was “only a joke” doesn’t change that. They know it was intended as a joke, and they still feel this way.

This sort of mistake is very common, common enough that there is handy reference material which explains how to handle it without making it worse. There have been much more severe incidents in the free software community this year, with more lasting effect than passing comments. This one is pretty easy to correct, and I hope that Mark does so.  It would send the message that we mean it when we say that a community where people feel uncomfortable or threatened is not a productive one.

This is too long for identi.ca and Twitter, but too good to pass up:

“It’s no coincidence that most of those who are obsessed with population
growth are post-reproductive wealthy white men: it’s about the only
environmental issue for which they can’t be blamed.”

Quote from Stop blaming the poor. It’s the wally yachters who are burning the planet in the Guardian.

(via Kevin Smith)

I’ve been experimenting with Google Voice while traveling in the US. I would have tried it sooner, but it isn’t very UK-friendly at present.

The good:

• Free SMS to US mobiles from the browser
• Convenient browsing and searching of received/placed calls, SMS and voicemail
• Initiation of phone calls from the browser
• Unified contacts database with my Android phone (and GMail, though I don’t use it)
• Simple call routing, so I can use a fixed number when I’m in the US even though I usually pick up new a prepaid SIM on each trip
• Ability to choose a phone number through searching, to find one which is easy to remember
• Speech-to-text of voicemails (maybe just good enough to be useful)

The bad or missing:

• Requires a data connection on Android (problematic e.g. when roaming or using a prepaid/pay-as-you-go SIM), though it falls back gracefully to non-Google-Voice service
• Calls outside the US cost money (Vonage and other VOIP providers offer this for free)
• Calls can apparently only be placed between POTS lines (no softphone functionality)
• Yet another place to set my time zone.  Being able to selectively block calls while I’m asleep abroad would be the killer feature for me
• Caller ID doesn’t seem fully integrated in Android: it sometimes looks like I’m on a call with myself

The boring:

• Free calls within the US: people still pay for this?
• Voicemail: people still leave voicemail?

The “ah” moment came when someone gave me a phone number on IRC, and I copy/pasted it into my browser to call them.