[Debian-in-workers] Foss.in/2007: Debian's plan..

[Christian Perrier]

Quoting Sam Hocevar (leader at debian.org):
> On Thu, Aug 09, 2007, Christian Perrier wrote:
> 
> > I seriously consider proposing a paper for Foss.in and I was indeed
> > trying to find a way to fund the travel.
> 
>    Hi Christian, I thought I already answered you but while digging in
> my inbox I found out I didn't. I'm sorry about that.

If I'm correct, you participated to the discussion. My initial mail
was rather formal (which is why I wrote you in English even if I wrote
privately and know I could have written in French). The point was
making it a formal request.


> 
>    As you say, Debian funds are used in quite rare cases. But we have
> funds to be specifically used for travel funding, and are not using
> them much. So as you are Debian's de facto "i18n guy" I would support
> the idea of Debian funding your travel. I would just need to know the
> average prices for a trip from France before I give my final go.


A very quick search one month ago lead to to "about" EUR 900 for
a Paris-Bangalore trip. Which is what I mentioned (rounded to 1000) in
my initial mail yesterday. I have no idea about accomodation expenses
as I have no idea about the conference's organisation. As long as
these expenses are the order of magnitude of the "cost of one day" in
my country, I can handle them on my own.

> 
>    I would happily go with my DPL hat, too. Unfortunately I do not
> know much about India and my attention is currently directed towards
> Latin America for various reasons (one being that I am apparently the
> first DPL to speak some Spanish). However, I will learn more about
> the status of FLOSS in India and make up my mind. If you have infor-
> mation that could help me figure out whether my presence would be
> interesting for Debian and for the people I'd meet, please tell me
> (I agree that it would be "nice", I just need a little bit more).

Well, I think that the presence of the current official DPL is
certainly a way for Debian to mark the value we give to FLOSS projects
in South Asia. You mentioned Latin America which is currently the best
example one can give with regards of  FLOSS precedence particularly in
govermental organizations (we all know about Brazil, Venezuela,
etc.). Some parts of India seem to go the same direction (though with
different political motivations sometimes). and one could certainly
define India as one of the "key markets" for free software in the
future.

"Showing" Debian is also a way to show that there is an alternative to
commercial vendors even in the free software market. And the real
official representative we have for tis is the DPL, of course..:-)

The point would certainly be talking about what makes Debian specific
among FLOSS projets (volunteer-based, enhancing the power of the mass
of contributors vs the limited power of corporate companies).

These are of course things I also can propose to talk about (and
certainly can) though this would of course not have the visibility of
a talk by the Debian Project Leader (capitals everywhere..:-)).


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