Mark Shuttleworth on companies and free software

I would not consider the quoted material as a best-foot-forward approach towards a constructive discussion. But speech like that, which casts those with a different pov as "fundamentalists" right out of the gate is a good open salvo in a public relations war. I'm not sure that is actually what Shuttleworth wants... a war of words. That would seem to be counter to his goals. And it's not what I took away from his very sincerely sounding contrite apology in the UDS keynote video for not leading the discussion on these issues prior to this point.

If you have a followup private discussion with him, please encourage him to make an on the record statement in full in his own words instead of continuing to have private discussions with intermediaries which run the risk of misrepresenting what he actually wants to achieve.

If I'm fundamentalist about anything, its my desire to have a public on the record discussion about these issues, where everyone can be held personally accountable for what they choose to say in the discussion.

-jef