[svlug] Halloween X: the MS/SCO smoking gun...

[Ian Kluft]

>From: Tim <tim at tetro.net>
>Maybe a special meeting for some brainstorming?  How was the first trip
>to M$ organized?

There have been a few.  At the SV Tea Party, the assembly point and plans
were posted on Slashdot so some MS people showed up there and asked to talk.
They were caught just as much off guard when one of the people with our
group stepped forward and introduced herself as a reporter from the
New York Times.  :-)

That turned out not to be a confrontation of any kind.  The MS guys had seen
on our site that we told everyone to be civilized (not block entrances or
sidewalks, don't touch or intimidate people, stuff that keeps the protest
legal, etc) and they offered us some badges to get into the party to get
some snacks, sort of as a civilized response.

For Windows Refund Day in Foster City in 1999 (as seen on Revolution OS)
and the "Free Sklyarov" anti-DMCA protests in San Jose and San Francisco
in 2001, no planning occurred on public lists.  That'll continue to be
the way it's done.

>I'm still new to being active in the community, but
>I've been lurking for years.

Don't worry - we've all been there not long ago.

The main thing to keep in mind is that we hold civilized protests.
We don't harm or intimidate people.  We don't damage property.  We make
our point in the media while keeping the police downright bored with us.