Vancouver Open Source Week Interview Series: John Weintraub

As the leader of the Linux User Group in Vancouver we wanted to speak with John Weintraub!

Please tell us about yourself.

My name is John Weintraub, and I am an I.T. professional, a consultant for residential, small and medium-sized business users. I am in the process of re-building my consulting business (because of a hiatus I had to take after the failure of my last business) , but with a twist. About three years ago I took a program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), focusing on Linux-based network management. Since then I have become Chair of Vancouver Linux Users Group (VanLUG). Though originally trained as an MCSE on NT Server 4.0 (and I do intend to re-new my certs with Microsoft), I am working towards obtaining my Linux Professional Institute certification as a Network Administrator. So that’s where the twist comes in. Part of my business model consists of converting those unhappy with Microsoft or the Macintosh OSX on their desktop computers to to Linux; and to install Linux-based servers wherever there is an identified need for a server-centralized network (re)formulation. I still like Microsoft Windows, however, (when it behaves itself) and believe that if fills a very important and substantial portion of the desktop market. I don’t want a war between the two orientations, but believe that there is room in the marketplace for both Linux and Microsoft.

How are you involved with the open source community in Vancouver?

As Chair of VanLUG I have taken it as a large part of my mandate to promote not just Linux, in all its varieties (“flavours”) but also to promote the Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) community and its brand of software, driven primarily by the GPLv3 license, which is the license structure most closely associated with Linux & FLOSS. We are doing so by trying to attract other IT professionals, whether in network admin, web development, software development/design/testing, embedded systems, SCADA, or any other IT-related field who are interested in Open Source, and especially Linux.

We are also doing so by working with other Non-profit groups such as Freegeek Vancouver (FGV) ), and Ubuntu Vancouver Local Community (UVLC) to promote Ubuntu Linux, but are very willing to work with other groups such as the IEEE working group in Vancouver as well as university-affiliated and other non-profit IT groups to promote Linux and Open Source. We do want to expand our work with for-profit companies that work with open source (Nokia, Microsoft, Google, etc) to promote Linux and FLOSS. Finally, we are involved in something called the Open Classroom Project developed initially by VanLUG, and working with FGV, and Vancouver Computer Network which will be a set of for-free classes intended to educate people on how to use computers, and specifically using Ubuntu Linux, how to use Linux and feel comfortable with it.

What are your expectations and thoughts around the first open source week in Vancouver?

Well, essentially we are really hoping to avoid being seen as an IT-equivalent of the Taliban attending a Loya Jirga (tribal warlord meeting in Afghanistan). Seriously, we really don’t want to be seen as being anti-Microsoft, but rather there to promote a rapprochement between the MS community and the Linux community. There are folks within my community — some serious zealots, who are seriously ABM or ”Anything But Microsoft” – but they are very much the minority. Most all of us recognize that Microsoft is a very prominent force within the IT community, and we would be severely remiss to avoid this great opportunity to present our point-of-view to Microsoft, as well as to listen to what Microsoft has to say.

We were and are disappointed that Microsoft has given GPLv3 very short shrift, to the point of almost total exclusion from its license-structures, because it would not be difficult for MS to allow that in. We also would love to see Microsoft turn its considerable resources to getting involved in the Linux WINE and Samba projects, (or dare we hope, a version of Linux to compete openly as open-source software) all of which open a door for Microsoft to allow a greater presence in the Linux community.

Do you find it funny or strange that Microsoft helped to organize open source week?

Our biggest fear is that as open (if you will pardon the pun) as Port 25 is to the Open Source community, that there are forces and directives within Microsoft among the “old guard” who cannot see the benefits of the FLOSS philosophy, who cannot see that it is possible, as many companies currently do, to make a profit on FLOSS software (Canonical, RedHat, Novell, IBM, Google), and who see the Open Source community as just another community to be brought into the Microsoft “fold”, using open source software & web designers as there only to support and promote some of Microsoft’s flagship products such as IIS, rather than seeing one of the purposes of the Open Source community’s software, and that is to allow a variety of platforms and systems to flourish, while still making a profit. Coding open-source software that is intended primarily or exclusively to run on Microsoft platforms seems to us to be a contradiction in terms and values, and entirely antithetical to the Open Source/FLOSS community’s philosophy.

I don’t know if I am going to be the sole representative of VanLUG. That is possible, as I do think many are open to Microsoft’s entreaties but who do not necessarily accept the bold statement that “The wars of “platform religions” are over.” and are therefore mistrustful of Microsoft’s intentions

So we attend with trepidation, and the hope that we can convince Microsoft to be open not just to Open Source software, but to one of the fundamental and core sets of values that we believe is the ultimate expression of the Open Source philosophy, and that is GPLv3, of which, as I mentioned, Microsoft is far from accepting.

What event are you most looking forward to?

Open Data/Open Gov Presentation & Panel Discussion; Open Source & Microsoft; Curious for a Living

Are there specific people you’re looking to meet?

Basically anyone and everyone who sees value in Linux, FLOSS and GPLv3

Anything else?

Yes, I am very glad and wish to thank, on behalf of VanLUG, Julia Stowell and the MakeWebNotWar gang for the invitation. I’d very much like to publish this and any VanLUG-related material for MWNW to our mailing list and website, once this interview itself is published.

Open Data/Open Gov Presentation & Panel Discussion; Open Source & Microsoft; Curious for a Living

Are there specific people you’re looking to meet?

Basically anyone and everyone who sees value in Linux, FLOSS and GPLv3

Anything else?

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