There are a few things that I find ironic about most Free Software geeks. They'll support the philosophy of GNU and Free Software until the cows come home, but they'll continue to chat with their buddies over proprietary IM protocols, such as MSN, Yahoo!, AIM, ICQ, Gadu Gadu, Skype and more.
Well, it's time to ditch the legacy IM protocols in favor of Open Standards, such as IRC, XMPP/Jabber, SIP/SIMPLE and others. Of course, this means making a sacrifice to potentially lose friends and family on your roster. However, at the same time, it's an opportunity to advocate Free Software to your friends and family, and encourage them to register open IM accounts.
May 19th has been named Open Discussion Day. This is the day, if you have not already, to ditch your legacy IM accounts for good. As it sits, you have 11 weeks to advocate to friends and family, letting them know of your decision, and what you can do to help them make the switch as well.
Lastly, I'm looking for some volunteers to help me manage Open Discussion Day this year. I'm looking for folks willing to do a little advocacy (marketing, blogging, websites, wikis, etc). If interested, you can find me in our official channel on Freenode, #opendiscussion.
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