Digital Tipping Point 4 min proof of concept

This is one of many short video segments which will be added to the Digital Tipping Point (DTP) archive. This particular segment is our first proof of concept video short. It's not really a trailer, because a trailer is a much more complete promotional short used to give the viewers a feel for the final product. This proof of concept, by contrast, is really just to see how these particular segments would look together; to introduce a few of our interviewees; to show the audience some of the basic ideas in our film; and to show funders that we have interviewed some fairly significant political leaders.

There are some very dramatic moments in this segment. Lots of people have heard that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer interrupted a skiing vacation to visit the Mayor of Munich when he heard that Munich was considering moving to free open source software. It's true, which is why the Munich story has captured the imagination of lots of people following the digital tipping point. Munich Mayor Christian Ude is a remarkably charismatic individual, and he opens this segment by asking, "The question is, will the dam break!" He's referring, of course, to his city's decision to move to open source, and the potential domino effect that might have on the idustry.

Jack Messman, the brillian former CEO and Chairman of Novell who oversaw the acquisition of some major open source assets such as SuSE Linux, talks about why the open source community is such a powerful force in the software industry. In particular, Jack talks about how the community played a role in Novell's decision to spit in the face of the mammoth software market leader, Microsoft, and begin offering software and services for desktop PCs, Microsoft's bread and butter market.

Next, Eddie Bleasedale, a prominent computer consultant to the British government, talks about a conference at which Bill Gates says that a monopoly can be broken if 20% of the market moves toward a competing technology, and that it was Bill's job to make sure that 20% threshold is never reached.

Also appearing here is the equally charismatic Gilberto Gil, a rock star who was exiled from his Brazilian homeland during Brazil's authoritarian period, and later was appointed by Brazilian President Lula da Silva to be the Culture Minister of Brazil, which is the highest government post ever held by an African Brazilian. You can easily see why Minister Gil is such a popular performer; he holds your attention with his charming smile while talking about how free open source software is important to freedom in a larger social sense. Minister Gil has a breath-taking line at the end of this segment in which he talks about free open source as "walking toward freedom." If I were to say that line, no one would ever believe it. But when Minister Gil says it, you can't help but believe it's true, he says it so eloquently. Every single Brazilian I have ever met knows and loves this man, and it's easy to see why. Next time you meet a Brazilian, ask his or her opinion of Gilberto Gil, and see what response you get.

tape id = proof_of_concept_four_mins.mpg

The DTP will be many, many films created by the global open source video community about how open source is changing their lives. We, the DTP crew, are submitting this footage for anyone to rip, mix, and burn under the Creative Commons Attribute - ShareAlike license. We welcome edits, transcriptions, graphics, music, and animation contributions to the film. Please send a link for any contributions to Christian Einfeldt at einfeldt at gmail.com.

We will be building the Digital Tipping Point film on-line here at this Digital Tipping Point Wiki Page. Please feel free to stop by there and offer your own suggestions, edits or transcriptions of our video.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Munich
• Novell
• Brazil
• FreeSoftware
• OpenSourceSoftware

[3uzz]

I just saw your msg and replied sorry for the delay i am not an avid youtuber!

[einfeldt]

hi, a reporter has asked me about you. The reporter would like to ask you a few questions. Would you be willing to talk to her? (the reporter). Thanks either way.

[3uzz]

we watched this on youtube in class....

[einfeldt]

3uzz: Cool! What class? Are you 18 years old, or younger, because if you are under 18, then I would need to correspond with your teacher or parent. I do have a few questions, though, either way, whether you are a minor or an adult. I just need to make sure there is an adult involved. Sorry to be a stickler for the rules. See ya.

[CerebralGump]

I think 20% is quite possible though difficult to measure; Most GNU/Linux users are not visible market statistics. And as I watch Microsoft seemingly gloat about how many copies of Vista it has "sold" (licenced to vendors to be pre-installed on systems), I can't help but notice what looks like a false sense of security in those sales figures. My own PC is a Windows sales statistic, but it runs Kubuntu. I have friends who use GNU/Linux as well and they are not visible market statistics either.

[Jogannez]

nice concept, boring movie...