@Wolf480pl @fosdem @aral @wodan @danielinux @Shamar

It's complicated. Fosdem has been sponsored by Google for a long time afaik. There is probably some non-trivial overlap between FOSS developers and Googlers. And also many people are within the trance of the mainstream media and so unaware of the things it misrepresents or just leaves out entirely.

I think we should get companies like Google out of conferences, but boycotting them isn't necessarily the best way to do it unless there's an alternative one to attend. Otherwise you're merely helping the silo companies by breaking up community events for the few developers who could meaningfully oppose them.

A better way to do it might be to ensure that the organizers don't have a complacent attitude. To give companies like Google a limited platform (if any) in terms of speakers and to ensure that there is critical evaluation of what they say or do. Don't give them an easy ride like they got in the past. Just encouraging more attendees to adopt a critical attitude towards the software they're using, rather than the Sillycon Valley attitude of breathless enthusiasm for any new BS being pushed by a $bigcorp, would do a lot of good.