| "It's [Groklaw's] updated daily, in real time if something is breaking. PJ
has become sort of a cult hero for Linux geeks."
Sort of? Cult? If
something is breaking? The most amazing thing about PJ is her ability to
actually THINK, work and microsleep for 60 hours or more straight, especially
during breaking events. Sign of a true geek, is it not?
Pamela "Groklaw"
Jones never sought fame. In fact, in the early days, Pamela felt astonishment at
the worldwide readership of her blog, and later felt angst at being a publicly
known personality and/or attending Linux events she knew she should go to, like
the GPL presentation last year.
Literally, PJ felt the attention and fame
was a distraction to her adopted mission, the urgent need to shed light on
TSCOG's FUD, and she felt that such behavior as attending FOSS conferences might
be an immodesty counter to her nature and a detraction from her urgent work. Who
was she to do anything but quietly observe, take notes and report?
It was
hard for PJ to make her transition to Linux and FOSS recognition and leadership.
Luckily, her love of the FOSS community, her sense of wanting to give back to
the community, her inherent dedication and integrity, and finally her
acknowledgement of the (then potential) value of her blog site to the community,
slowly overcame her reluctance to meet or at least attend FOSS happenings.
Truly, she was carried along by the river of her success.
PJ sought guidance
from some of her readers and posters about her potential first public "coming
out". Some of us encouraged her to go to that first public meeting, a forum on
the GPL, anonymously if she felt more comfortable, to overcome her reluctance.
Then, she worried about the correctness of attending incognito! She did take the
time off from Groklaw and attend, and as I recall, acknowledged her identity to
a few, who immediately honored her desire for privacy and got the Linux movers
and shakers to visit with her, discretely. She went, she made key contacts, she
gathered important insights, her role became acknowledged and endorsed, and,
most importantly to her, she survived as "still just PJ".
Collaborative
legal research had been invented, and PJ's army of dedicated technical experts
began work in earnest, with the result of PJ's leadership and guidance quickly
proving to be more powerful than any (including IBM) could have anticipated. How
did she ever find the energy to do this and also spearhead GrokLine and GrokDoc?
Hard working, insightfull and dedicated doesn't begin to describe PJ.
When
TSCOG accused Pamela Jones and Groklaw of being a FUD site funded by IBM, I
already knew beyond any doubt that she is the most honest, transparent person I
have ever "met", a true person of integrity who fights fairly, with all her
strengths and skills, for what she believes is right, and with only voluntary
contributions by the existing FOSS community at large. If she could, I know she
would personally acknowledge every contribution by every Groklawer, every
time.
She was working two jobs, and Groklaw was purely her contribution to
our community. PJ's services are priceless and, like FOSS itself, therefore have
value far beyond conventional wisdom and the world monetary system.
PJ's
early financial support was intended by contributors to free her up, as much as
she wished, from distracting responsibilities, but it took a lot of insisting
before the donation buttons appeared and PJ cut back on her "outside" hours.
Then she picked up her research position with the venture indemnification
insurer, and we were in business with a sense of stability.
When the outside
FUD spin was perceived by Pamela to detract from Groklaw's mission, she did not
hesitate in resigning her insurance position rather than allowing anything to
taint Groklaw, fair or not. Would I have courage to do the same under the
circumstances? Probably not.
Such integrity, such selflessness, did not
surprise those aware of her motivation to contribute back to the software model
that she believes in. Her sense of justice, and of integrity, is equalled by
very, very few, if any.
So, to say Pamela Jones deserves this latest
allocade, is extreme and dramatic understatement. Her value to our community far
exceeds anything else out there at the moment. Her effectiveness in defending
GNU/Linux and FOSS in general is increasing as she impliments the next level of
FOSS leadership, calling on trusted volunteers to carry more and more of the
load, without lowering her standards or releasing her annointed "Benevolent
Dictator" role happily bestowed on her by the Groklawyers and Groklawers. Pamela
Jones, you have become the Linus Torvalds of open source defense against
proprietary and monopoly attacks.
What PJ accomplished, she did through
agonizing about the details, and never letting up on her insistence on mutual
respect and documented truth from all of her contributors. She grew beyond being
a paralegal with an important site, became a remarkable journalist, and almost
as quickly, morphed into a widely recognized (as in worldwide) journalist of the
highest caliber. Or was she that way all along?
Pamela Jones remains,
through the fame, threats, and petty jealousies of the Microsoft-paid
"journalists", a true voluntary contributor to our community. My response, and I
hope yours also, is to continue helping as possible, at least through that "Make
a Donation" button, regularly.
After (or during) defending TSCOG attacks,
comes defending FOSS from Microsoft and its political and financial allies. The
worldwide software patent issue will be kept alive by Groklawers everywhere. PJ
will be needed for some time to come, as the many volunteers, authors,
investigators, errand runners, court attendees, transcribers, proof readers,
contributors, donors, experts, developers, researchers, etc., will undoubtably
agree. Groklawers together will fight the battles that inhibit the ideals, the
rights and the freedoms that we agree, to paraphrase a group of colonists from a
few hundred years ago, are "self-evident".
Pamela Jones, I admire you,
and offer you my most sincere congratulations on the highly deserved
recognitions you have and will receive from an ever wider and more diverse
audience than anyone anticipated. Thank you for taking on the task. I thank God
that you hold the skills that you do.
---
Ben
-------------
IMBW, IANAL2, IMHO, IAVO,
imaybewrong, iamnotalawyertoo, inmyhumbleopinion, iamveryold.
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