From: tower@bu-cs.BU.EDU (Leonard H. Tower Jr.)
Newsgroups: bu.general,comp.misc,misc.legal
Subject: Re: Picket Lotus May 24
Message-ID: <31514@bu-cs.BU.EDU>
Date: 20 May 89 16:31:39 GMT
References: <31502@bu-cs.BU.EDU>
Reply-To: rms@wheaties.ai.mit.edu
Followup-To: alt.activism
Organization: League for Programming Freedom
Lines: 54


From randy@bu-cs.BU.EDU Sat May 20 12:16:34 1989
Path: bu-cs!randy
From: randy@bu-cs.BU.EDU (Randy Smith )
Newsgroups: ne.general,alt.activism
Subject: Picket Lotus May 24
Date: 20 May 89 05:36:35 GMT
Date-Received: 20 May 89 05:36:35 GMT
Xref: bu-cs ne.general:284 alt.activism:857

This Wednesday, the League for Programming Freedom will protest the
look-and-feel copyright demands of Lotus, Apple and Ashton-Tate by
picketing the headquarters of Lotus.  The sponsors of the
demonstration include Guy L. Steele, Jr., Richard Stallman and MIT
Professors Marvin Minsky, Gerald J. Sussman, and Patrick Winston.  If
you want to preserve the freedom to write and use programs of your
choice, join our demonstration!

We will gather at Tech Square in Cambridge (on Main Street near Vassar
Street) shortly before noon on Wednesday May 24, rain or shine.  Go to
the center of Tech Square, between the buildings, where the trees are.
At noon we will march to the Lotus building next to the river at 55
Cambridge Parkway.  If you are late, go directly there.  Don't be too
late, since we will finish at 1pm.  

If you work in the suburbs, you can travel back and forth and stay for
the entire demonstration in about 2.5 hours.  That's a long lunch, but
you can get away with it.  

Please post copies of this announcement where you work, on bulletin
boards and anywhere else appropriate.  Also speak to your coworkers
and friends about the demonstration; some of them may not read net
news or bulletin boards.

Since not everyone will make a sign, it is very helpful if you do so. 
Here are some suggestions for slogans:  
    SAY NO TO MONOPOLY
    KEEP YOUR LAWYERS OFF MY COMPUTER
    BOYCOTT LOTUS
    PROGRAMMERS ARE ANGRY
Use your imagination; the more variety, the better.

We are thinking of returning some used 1-2-3 manuals to Lotus as a
symbolic gesture of rejection of their software.  If you have a manual
you would like to use for this, bring it along.

Once we get to the Lotus building, please remember not to litter, not
to block pedestrians and to stay out of the street.  We want to behave
as responsible citizens of a democratic society and be seen as such. 
It's a sure thing there will be lots of reporters covering the first
demonstration ever by programmers about an issue vital to the
programming field.  
  

Richard Stallman   rms@wheaties.ai.mit.edu   uunet!wheaties.ai.mit.edu!rms