Now that some people in the Free Software community have discovered Microsoft"s Shared Source guru Jason Matusow is slated to speak at the Open Source for National and Local eGovernment Programs in the U.S.and EU conference, they are gunning for the show"s organizer.
Members of the New York Linux Scene (NYLXS), a mega-group that includes NYLUG, LXNY, and NYFAIRUSE, believe a company whose core values are antithetical to Open Source should not be allowed to promote itself during a gathering dedicated to Open Source software. And they blame the organizer of the event, Tony Stanco. They"re even discussing plans to stage a protest at the conference in March.
In 1999 Stanco was a senior attorney for the Securities and Exchange Commission. He became enamored with Free Software and started FreeDevelopers.net in 2000. The premise of FreeDevelopers was that "the community is the company." Stanco wanted to see that Free Software developers would be paid for their work and he intended to make that happen by securing grants and other funds in sponsorship of worthy development projects.