FSF Award for the Advancement of Free Software

bkuhn writes "The FSF has posted a a call for nominations for the 2002 FSF Award for the Advancement of Free Software. Get your nominations in to <award-nominations@gnu.org> by 15 October 2002."

Comments

Who should really get it...

[Jay Maynard]

...would be the one who shuts RMS up for good. He does more to hurt his own cause than anyone else.

Re:Who should really get it...

[FooBarWidget]

The one that should shut up is YOU. Just because you don't agree with his views doesn't give you the right to hold hate speech about him.

Bury the "GPL is viral" myth!

Re:Who should really get it...

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, Jay, I was just about to post nominating YOU, with a few groups.google links to some of your drivel. A friend of mine wrote a stupid little perl script for archieving some stuff, gave it to three friends (so we could automatically scp backups to each other's cable modem machines) and even though he's a BSD nut case (box is crashing all the time cause he's too cheap to buy good RAM) he laughingly put it under the GPL "in hateful memory of Jay Maynard."

I think he may have known you from your Compaq Texas days.

Anyway, just to statisfy a curiosity of mine. Have you ever worked for a company that didn't have tens of thousands of employees and was suffocating under it's own bureacracy ? I'm noticing a trend that BSD advocates -- or should I say anti-GPLists, you guys don't really do much BSD advocating and give that crowd their bad name -- tend to come from old-school telecoms, huge EDS type places, and big universities, and defense companies -- basically any place that has facist type bureaucratic overhead.

So ? Have you ever worked somewhere where merit actually mattered as opposed to showing up and ticking the boxes in the quarterly review ?

Re:Who should really get it...

[DonkeyJimmy]

Just because you don't agree with his views doesn't give you the right to hold hate speech about him.

Yeah, only the constitution gives you that right.

Re:Who should really get it...

[Jay Maynard]

Actually, Jay, I was just about to post nominating YOU

Heck, go ahead. It'd make RMS either throw up or else laugh so hard he couldn't type for a couple of days, and either one would cut down on his pontificating.

Anyway, just to statisfy a curiosity of mine. Have you ever worked for a company that didn't have tens of thousands of employees and was suffocating under it's own bureacracy ?

My current employer qualifies, in spades. I've also worked for a couple of other small companies, as well as several major ones. You see, unlike RMS, I've been in the real world, and understand how it really works.

My work experience is more on the side of the large corporation, though, since my background (being largely in IBM mainframes) doesn't lend itself as easily to the small shop.

Oh, and it's fascist, not facist.

Re:Who should really get it...

[Jay Maynard]

Just because you don't agree with his views doesn't give you the right to hold hate speech about him.

What hate speech? I don't particularly hate RMS, as a person. Anyone who'd go shooting with ESR can't be all bad.

His ideas and ideals, OTOH, are worth fighting, and I won't be dissuaded from doing so.

Re:Who should really get it...

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, and it's fascist, not facist.

Says who, speling facist!

Gates

[undeg chwech]

I nominate Bill Gates. He should get the award for advancing free software

Re:Gates

[packeteer]

haha

I dont know if this is a troll but i sure hope not. I think this is true that Bill Gates is the reason for a lot opf the growth of free software. Microsoft's crappy quality is about 80% of the reason for my switch to Linux. Once i started learning about free software i stuck with it more but really its MS that pushed me over the "hump" of switching away from windows.

Re:Gates

[jeffy124]

more proof

Re:Gates

[Anonymous Coward]

Read the stories of Linus Torvalds. Linux was not made for competition with MS. He still doesn't think that MS sucks, he just tries to make Linux better.

People (like you) that are more concerned with bringing down MS instead of pumping up Linux are the reason that Linux is still a hobbiest OS, and not a desktop OS.

Re:Gates

[norweigiantroll]

I think he's just saying that that's how he heard about Linux and the Free Software Community. I did too. I, like most computer users, started out with Windows (well actually DOS.) If it weren't for Microsoft's crummy software nearly driving me to insanity I probably never would have even checked out Linux. Well I did, got more into it, and now it is the only thing I use.

Linux was not made for competition with MS.
IIRC, the story was that Linus had a computer that came with MS-DOS, but he wanted UNIX, so he made Linux. Linux and Windows are both two different Operating Systems, I would say they "compete."

Re:Gates

[packeteer]

Ok i am the LAST person to try to get rid of Microsoft. I run Linux because Windows can't/won't do what i need it to. Windows isn't a bad OS and i never said that. If windows was truly "bad" noboduy would use it and there would be a massive migration to Linux. I have solved MANY computer problems for many people involving windows AND linux and personally i think Windows is what many people need but im not one of them. Being a person who doesn't need to run any specific windows only programs for work its not an issue to use linux with winex and get everything done i need.

Re:Gates

[Citizen of Earth]

I nominate Bill Gates. He should get the award for advancing free software

I second the nomination, but I think that it should be for MS License 6.0.

Re:Gates

[larry bagina]

That story is bullshit. He had a 386, and and was using the minix OS (which was a somewhat popular unix-like OS for 8086 computers, but licensed under terms so modifcations were only possible via patches). Linux was written to circumvent those licensing terms, and fix some of minix's deficiencies. Browse google for the "linux is obsolete" thread.

Re:Gates

[adamjaskie]

Actually, what happened is Linus was using Minix, and was frustrated by it's terminal emulator. He decided he did not wish to code a new one in Minix, (i don't remember why, something about limitations of the OS iirc) and instead wrote it in assembly, and just booted it off a floppy disk. He used that for a while, but then needed to transfer files, so he wrote in code to access a minix file system. After a while, it started to become more and more like an OS, and it eventually became an os when he got bash running on it, and accidentally wiped his minix partition. This is what i read in "Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary" by Linus Torvalds and David Diamond. (a good book btw)

I nominate KaZaa

[anotherone]

I've downloaded more free software from kazaa than I ever have from any other source.

Re:I nominate KaZaa

[Anonymous Coward]

Well then you should nominate Gnutella

Re:I nominate KaZaa

[Anonymous Coward]

Um... OK, so, uh, you obviously don't know what you're talking about so i'll AC ya some info... kazaa runs on the 'proprietary' FastTrack network, not over gnutella.

Re:I nominate KaZaa

[Asprin]

Clap..... Clap.....
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Clap Clap Clap Clap WOO-HOO! Clap Clap Clap YEAH!Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap FREEBIRD!!! Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap..... Clap.. Clap.. Clap.....
Clap.....

Well done indeed!

Re:I nominate KaZaa

[Anonymous Coward]

Um um um OK um OK OK um um um OK um...

had to be said . . . .

[I Have a Hard]

Close your web browser, shut down your fucking linux "b0xen" and go outside for once in your life.

I think the fact that a site like slashdot, which caters to you fucking nerds out there, can't even survive without having to charge you for reading it, says alot about how much you fucks are worth to the rest of the world: ZERO.

This should serve as a wakeup call to all you nerds out there who think that working on your b0xen in your one bedroom apartment, posting useless shit to a useless web site like slashdot and reading about the newest version of OpenBSD that can run on your fucking Dreamcast console is a good way to go through life.

So wake the fuck up and DO something productive, something that makes money. Stop wasting your time talking about open source fucking garbage that will never amount to anything useful.

Re:had to be said . . . .

[artificial_blue]

Do you pick bottles for a living? That is a good trade to do outside.. Along with those construction monkeys.. Hmmm, let the ole sun burn ya up you cancer mongrel Live at night, It's a wonderful life. Fuck the system from home.

Re:had to be said . . . .

[siliconwafer]

The corporate world is moving more and more toward free software. People are benefiting from free software. Suck it, motherfucker.

Re:had to be said . . . .

[Anonymous Coward]

Who is benefiting from free software, now? Anyone? No, last time I checked there wasn't a single person on the planet benefiting from free software.

Re:had to be said . . . .

[Anonymous Coward]

posting useless shit to a useless web site like slashdot

Whats that again? I couldn't help notice that you're posting on Slashdot. According to you, that means that you are worth zero. Logically, you should kill yourself. Please set up a webcam so that we can all watch. Thanks.

Re:had to be said . . . .

[drooling-dog]

You know you're making progress when the beads of sweat start popping out on the foreheads of the Microsoft drones...

Re:had to be said . . . .

[Anonymous Coward]

Who is benefiting from free software, now? Anyone? No, last time I checked there wasn't a single person on the planet benefiting from free software.

People working for Apple, people working for IBM, pretty much anyone using the internet... that's some headline examples but people all over the place.

Re:had to be said . . . .

[Anonymous Coward]

You know you're making progress when the beads of sweat start popping out on the foreheads of the Microsoft drones...

hmm... I thought that always happened at MS, as soon as bill told the few skilled employees to "do it my way." ;)

I nominate...

[Anonymous Coward]

...whoever created the Junkbuster Proxy. Keeping Slashdot ad-free for me since 1998. Sorry guys, but that big ad at the top...I don't see it.

Make your money elsewhere. hahahahahahahaha!

Alan Cox and Raph Levien!

[Anonymous Coward]

Alan Cox and Raph Levien are great advocates of Free Software.

Re:Alan Cox and Raph Levien!

[Anonymous Coward]

Alan Cocks sure wants the award!

Bill Gates, of course!

[Anonymous Coward]

To good ol' Bill.

He and his team have made significant contributions to open source, by way of making a product that so many people want nothing to do with and therefore choose to install/learn/develop linux!

I've got it

[Longinus]

"Any kind of activity could be eligible -- writing software, writing documentation, publishing CDs, even journalism"

That's it! Let's all nominate Katz just for kicks.

Re:I've got it

[Anonymous Coward]

Katz does deserve a good kicking...

Re:I've got it

[Usquebaugh]

I second that. The best bit would be that Jon wouldn't get the joke.

Re:I've got it

[Usquebaugh]

Just like the fucking idiot who modded the parent down.

MOD UP NOT DOWN YOU MORON.

Sigh... there goes another couple of points

Re:I've got it

[ichimunki]

Speaking of Katz, what happened to him? He hasn't frontpaged an article here in almost two months!

Re:I've got it

[GigsVT]

He went back into Taco's mind, where he came from.

Re:I've got it

[Anonymous Coward]

trollax0r!

Re:I've got it

[aardvarkjoe]

Calling Katz a journalist is an insult to real journalists everywhere. Perhaps there's a category for being a bottomless pit of stupidity?

Re:I've got it

[Anonymous Coward]

LNUX investor?

My nomination was

[Kissing Crimson]

the primary motivator at Apple responsible for using *BSD in OSX. (admittedly this may not count...)

I believe OSX on i386 will cause a major movement toward more open source software development.

Re:My nomination was

[Tolleman]

Tought, unless I remember this all wrong. Apples "Open Source" licence doesn't count as free software. Since it is a "sure, make changes. But mail to us and we take creds" licence. I might be wrong.

Re:My nomination was

[jbn-o]

I believe OSX on i386 will cause a major movement toward more open source software development.

And that should be why they dismiss your submission: their goal is to move people to freedom, hence the name of the "Free Software" movement, not to move people to dismiss software freedom or back licenses which deny computer users software freedom. It makes no sense to give a Free Software advancement award those who make non-free software.

It has to be Microsoft!!

[Gumber]

For inspiring open source development by giving people things to imitate and something to hate.

Re:It has to be Microsoft!!

[Kissing Crimson]

More specifically, the 'Activation' system in XP will probably have a massive imapact over the next year or so.

Everytime somebody's computer becomes unusable due to a hardware change or two, open source OSs become more attractive.

Re:It has to be Microsoft!!

[cscx]

Hardly. It takes, I believe, 7 hardware changes for the need to re-activate. Of course if so, a quick 5 minute call to MS will solve this problem (the majority of the time is actually not spent on hold, but rather them reading a 50-character key over the phone to you.)

Re:It has to be Microsoft!!

[Anonymous Coward]

For inspiring open source development by giving people things to imitate and something to hate.

Yeah, just like how Linus made Linux to be a better OS than Windows, right?
What, he made it for another reason?
Well, at least he says that its a piece of crap OS, right?
What? Not even a little?

You're attitude is what makes Linux unpopular. Instead of using MS as your personal voodoo doll, you should be making Linux better.

Linux will NOT become a desktop OS by slamming MS, it needs support, not poo-flinging.

Re:It has to be Microsoft!!

[Gumber]

I was half serious in both of my statements (wrapped, as they were, in a single sentence).

I'll leave it to you to figure out which halves.

Blender!

[The_Dougster]

The Blender Foundation has done an unprecedented thing by raising so much cash to bring Blender into the Free Software Fold. I'm not aware of any program in the free software base which is so sophisticated as a 3d modeler. I think they are pioneers and should be lauded for their efforts!

Re:Blender!

[Anonymous Coward]

I second that nomination!
Blender is simply one of the best.
I hope the open sourcing will make it *the best*.

Re:Blender!

[glwtta]

speaking of which - they are something like $700 short of their goal right now - so, donate people, donate!

Re:Blender!

[MisterBlister]

Dont you think you should wait until its actually open sourced before nominating anyone for an award?

Dont get me wrong, I'm sure they have every intention of releasing the source...but cmon..Maybe consider nominating them next year!

Re:Blender!

[Anonymous Coward]

Read the fineprint. They only give the award to individuals.

Dr. Edgar Villanueva

[oliverthered]

A quick quote from linuxjournal

"LJ What has been your exposure to, or experience with, free software?

Villanueva I've kept up with the Free Software movement in Peru for several years. Both the philosophy that drives it and the fact that, for technical and economic reasons, this software allows the implementation of solutions for a range of organizations.

LJ There are a number of other countries considering proposals similar to 1609, from Asia to Europe to Latin America. Are you familiar with these? If so, are there parts of your proposed bill that make it unique?

Villanueva Bill number 1609 has now been improved and is currently in the committee stage with number 2485, which is also signed by Congressman Jacques Rodrich. Congressman Daniel Estrada has presented a similar bill that is based on the same free software spirit. Among other countries, the closest are Brazil and Argentina; for Europe, we know about the law passed by the German parliament, as well as the proposal in France and the study presented to the English parliament. In Asia, above all there are the actions of the Chinese Government. All these bills are essentially similar, but in ours, like the Argentinian one, we claim exclusivity in all state bodies. Obviously putting this exclusivity into practice will need a whole process, which will take some time, because there are state bodies that are working well with proprietary software and would only choose free software for their future requirements, assuming it's available on the market. That applies quite generally to any institution. I'm only mentioning it because I'm convinced of how critical migration is, the importance of careful planning, and the availability of the necessary resources to cover the time and the risks that you take.
"

Re:Dr. Edgar Villanueva

[Swaffs]

I have to wonder if this is something that we want. He may not want to be cast as someone trying to support Free Software. Really he's trying to do what he think is best for his country, which he believes involves using Open Source software. Giving him such an award may make it look like he's using his position to try and improve the state of Free Software.

His support and the advancement that it has caused is great, but its more of a spin-off benefit caused by him doing what's right for his country.

Re:Dr. Edgar Villanueva

[jbn-o]

Really he's trying to do what he think is best for his country, which he believes involves using Open Source software.

No, he believes doing what's best for his country involves using Free Software, not "Open Source". He takes the Microsoft rep to task for referring to what he's doing as "Open Source". The bill he backs specifically mentions "Free Software". He is aware the two are not the same thing and he chooses to back the Free Software movement. This has been discussed before.

Re:I nominate

[jimmy_dean]

lol, that's rediculous...XP a real OS...good one!

Mono

[AirLace]

The Mono project has made great strides towards producing a free (GPL and BSD licensed) implementation of the .NET framework that's poised to replace the proprietary Sun/IBM Java installations, which represent one of the final major pieces of non-free software routinely distributed with GNU/Linux.

As Gtk# continues to mature, it looks like the Mono project will soon be able to provide a powerful cross-platform Java-like envoronment complete with a modern object-oriented language, C#, that has proved so popular in business and enthusiast circles alike, without any of the vendor tie-in associated with Java.

Re:Mono

[Anonymous Coward]

Mono is evil, and so is Gnome for being so intent on using it. I switched to KDE after the Icaza Debacle.

As for Gnome and Mono both, I don't care what he says, I'm not having it on _my_ network.

Re:Mono

[Anonymous Coward]

You're a fucking moron.

Linus Torvalds

[Target Drone]

Considering RMS received the Linus Torvalds award it seems only fitting that Linus get the FSF Award. ;)

Re:Linus Torvalds

[Anonymous Coward]

"Giving the Linus Torvalds award to the FSF is like giving the Hans Solo award to the rebel alliance"

Nominate RMS

[Anonymous Coward]

AUTHOR
Written by Paul Rubin, David MacKenzie, Richard Stallman,
and Jim Meyering.

REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs to bug-fileutils@gnu.org.

COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying condi
tions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY
or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

SEE ALSO
shred(1)

He already did!

[Longinus]

"People such as Miguel de Icaza, Donald Knuth, Brian Paul, Guido van Rossum, Richard Stallman, Linus Torvalds, and Larry Wall who have already received this or other awards for their contributions, are not eligible for the Award for the Advancement of Free Software.

I know one!

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Hey, this guy has my vote! At the very minimun, it helped this nice guy get a boost ;)

grog!

[bsDaemon]

Greg Lehey is an important person to many BSDers, and thus I have nominated him. He's a core team member, wrote a damned fine book, and also columns on daemonnews. Go Grog!

Re:grog!

[Anonymous Coward]

But does he count because BSD is dead???

*Insert Wil Wheaton Fan Reference Here*

[Embedded Geek]

I mean, c'mon, the beat up Barney for Pete's sake!

My nomination goes to....

[Anonymous Coward]

This guy

Valgrind

[Otter]

This seems to be more a lifetime award than a "Year's Best" but since discussing what the year's biggest contribution should be is a lot more productive and less flame-y:

I'm going to nominate Valgrind. It's going to greatly improve the performance of Linux software across the board, and puts professional grade profiling in the hands of every MP3 playlist coder on Freshmeat.

What else? Nothing much happened this year. I'd suggest the Mono developers who seem to have accomplished a lot, but won't because I haven't tried it myself and because it's not especially relevant yet (if ever). Mozilla got a lot better, but they did so much bragging up front I'm not inclined to puff them up again now that they've finally accomplished something.

Re:Valgrind

[Anonymous Coward]

I have to agree. Valgrind is an amazing piece of work that will improve the quality and speed of ALL software written in any language for the x86 chip. This tool is as important to free software as GCC was 20 years ago. Julian Seward certainly deserves the award.

Re:Valgrind

[poot_rootbeer]

Shouldn't awards be given based on what a developer/project/concept/whatever HAS done, and not what they're GOING to do, as you've suggested Valgrind will?

Re:Valgrind

[Anonymous Coward]

What do you mean?
Valgrind works today.
Developers already make use of this great tool to improve the quality of software.

Re:Valgrind

[Otter]

Sorry, I was unclear -- Valgrind 1.0.2 is out now and it works. I was using the future tense because it's recently appeared and developers are only now starting to widely use it. Its effects are mostly in the future.

Regarding vaporware, which I think is what you're talking about, I entirely agree...

Re:Valgrind

[Uruk]

Like many other posts in this thread, you've nominated a free software project, and not a person. People get the awards, not software.

Larry Wall got the award one year, (but perl didn't). Guido van Rossum got the award one year (but Python didn't). I think you get the picture.

That said, while Valgrind is a neat tool, I don't think that it has made the same contribution that say, perl or python has made to the free software community. Valgrind allows people to debug very specific problems in very specific languages. But it does nothing for users, nothing for programmers in non C/C++ languages. I think the free software award should probably go to something that's a bit larger than this type of tool.

Re:Valgrind

[Otter]

Geez, you're nitpicking me over this?

I said in the first sentence that my post has nothing to do with the reality of the award, but simply asks a different question ("Who made the year's biggest contribution?") that is of more interest to me than the official one ("Which celebrity are we going to prostrate before this year?").

Re:Valgrind

[fault0]

You should nominate Julian Seward, not valgrind itself. This award is geared for people, not projects.

But I agree, Valgrind is an impressive piece of work, and it deserves to be recognized. It finally gives a free software alternative to Purify, something that was sorely lacking in the tool chests of free software developers.

Re:Valgrind

[dvdeug]

nothing for programmers in non C/C++ languages.

It works fine for GNU Ada, and there's no reason it can't work for any other compiled language (its assembly support covers what at least what GCC, G++, and GNU Ada output, but he's been quick about adding this type of support.)

Obvious Choice

[PaddyM]

The Peruvian Congressman:
David Villanueva Nuñez

Re:Obvious Choice

[Anonymous Coward]

another thread asked if he might not actually want this kind of attention

I nominate me...

[rppp01]

I mean, I do give out free software all the time. I believe in advancing any software any one wants. Well, I give it away for free, maybe it wasn't free to begin with but that is besides the point. This is about advancing free software. Anyone got a cd?

Re:I nominate me...

[Anonymous Coward]

It was free for me in the first place. :-)
-OsirisX11@yahoo.com

Gene Kan

[brilliant-mistake]

How about a posthumous nomination for Gene Kan for his work on Gnutella?

ESR

[jon787]

It was searching for the illegal type of hacking that landed me in his Hacker HOWTO guide and got me into Linux.

Re:ESR

[Anonymous Coward]

Did you manage to blow out all thirteen candles on your cake this year?

Itojun should get it

[0-9a-zA-Z_. !*'()123]

He has commit access to three bsd's and is a tireless advocate/worker on ipv6 for them.

He posts regularly to users@ipv6.org and other
forums.

In terms of advancing free software outside of the US (where ipv6 adoption is still emerging), this is pretty important. You aren't going to run free software if it can't network properly.

He has also worked on Magic Point and other free software projects.

www.itojun.org

Re:Itojun should get it

[Anonymous Coward]

commit access to a BSD == writing software for future MS and Apple closed source products

Nothing you'd want your mom to know you are doing, IMHO

Re:Itojun should get it

[Anonymous Coward]

BSD isn't free software, it's future closed source software.

Re:Itojun should get it

[Anonymous Coward]

But should he get the award because i been reading t hat BSD's dead???

Fixed pointed Ogg Vorbis

[randomErr]

Everyone wants Ogg Vorbis on their portable digital media player!

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/09/04/182521 9&mode=thread&tid=141

Shouldn't this be...

[corrosiv]

The GNU Award for the Advancement of GNU Software?

Define "free" however you like, but I hate hearing "free" when it means GNU. If they want to be so pickey about defining all their terms, they should stop leaning on the ambiguity that the term "free" gives them. The neophyte immediately understands free to be free beer. GNU is exploiting that, since 6 pages of legalese in the GPL doesn't add up to free beer OR free speech.

Re:Shouldn't this be...

[Idarubicin]

The neophyte immediately understands free to be free beer. GNU is exploiting that, since 6 pages of legalese in the GPL doesn't add up to free beer OR free speech.

But it is free like beer. You can take it, and you can use it yourself, and it doesn't cost you a penny. Actually, it's better than beer, because you can redistribute GPL'ed code as long as you follow the modest licensing provisions. Most people prefer it if you don't give them your recycled beer.

As far as 'legalese' goes, the GPL certainly isn't a painful read, and it's pretty unambiguous in its meaning. I honestly cannot think of any other licensing terms -- or any sort of contract in general -- that is as clearly stated.

Lastly, you're welcome to ignore the GPL if you want to. You fall back on the regular protections afforded by copyright law, which most people are familiar with. (They may not pay attention, but they understand the concept.) You can have this software, you can use it for free, but you can't then make copies and give them away. Replace 'software' with 'book' in the preceding sentence to see what I mean.

Re:Shouldn't this be...

[GigsVT]

since 6 pages of legalese in the GPL doesn't add up to free beer OR free speech.

The bill of rights is about a page long, the constitution is several pages long.

Sometimes you need to define some terms of freedom to ensure its survival.

Re:Shouldn't this be...

[demaria]

Beer isn't free, last time I checked.

Telling someone "it's free like beer" makes no sense.

Re:Shouldn't this be...

[Idarubicin]

Beer isn't free, last time I checked.

Telling someone "it's free like beer" makes no sense.

You're right. I guess "free as in speech, free as in air" just isn't catchy enough as a slogan.

I suppose, though, the issue is, do people understand what is meant? If someone told me, "Dude! Free beer!" then I'd go grab a bottle. I'd drink it. The end. I wouldn't try to duplicate it--I couldn't. 'Free' software is "free as in beer". It's even better, because if you follow the licence conditions, you get free softbeer for you and all your friends. (Okay, the buzz isn't quite the same.)

You could say "free as in books" to clarify. You can use the book, you can give the book to another person, but you can't photocopy the book and give away copies with the copyright notice in the front ripped out. You can't hijack chapters from the original work and put them in your own book without attribution. It's an idea people understand.

Re:Shouldn't this be...

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't like it when people restrict the use of the word free. I once replied to this nice Nigerian fellow who needed help transfering some money out of a bank. He'd give some of it to me for free if only I helped him. To get my million, I only had to part with $10,000 for a document processing fee. I can't wait to hear back from him! Also, I downloaded some free mp3s off of a Napster-wannabe and they were free. I like free.

Re:Shouldn't this be...

[Uruk]

Sigh.

I know lots of people don't like the way the FSF does things, the way they define words, the way they say things, and so on. But here's what it comes down to:

When a group has written half of the useful tools on any GNU/Linux system, they can talk all the shit that you want, and they can do whatever they well please.

On the other hand, if you're just a slashdot pundit that gets their kicks from overanalyzing and picking apart the works of others, you don't necessarily get a fair say in what is right and what is wrong.

The award is for the advancement of free software. GNU has an entire page devoted to licenses and what qualifies as free software. People who know a bit about GNU will realize that this encompasses X11, BSD, and many other non-GNU GPL licensed software.

Re:Shouldn't this be...

[(void*)]

The neophyte apparently has never heard of the word liberty, I guess.

Re:Shouldn't this be...

[fault0]

Actually the legalese might not be legal, either.

I've never seen a license with so much political mumbo-jumbo as the GPL. If it ever get's tested, the judge is just going to laugh at it.

Perhaps it's time to do a clean-room rewrite of the GPL, that makes a license that might be more apt to be held up by an actual real-life court.

Re:Shouldn't this be...

[dvdeug]

I've never seen a license with so much political mumbo-jumbo as the GPL. If it ever get's tested, the judge is just going to laugh at it. [...] Perhaps it's time to do a clean-room rewrite of the GPL, that makes a license that might be more apt to be held up by an actual real-life court.

Are you a lawyer? Is that a legal opinion? Because the lawyers and law professors who created the GPL and who have read through the GPL believe it solid. NeXT had the option to challenge the license on GCC, with serious commercial interest (their ObjC frontend). Their lawyers obviously told them that they couldn't win the fight, and this was a time when the FSF couldn't have called on the several companies - possibly even IBM - to help defend the GPL.

Re:Shouldn't this be...

[corrosiv]

I'm not a nitpicking pundit. I'm a user of free software that GNU doesn't consider to be "free". The licenses page on gnu.org does not mention X11 or BSD, and Stallman (as GNU spokesman) has vocally stated that these are not "free" software.

GNU refuses to respect other points of view on this subject (and to think that one of their supposed goals is collaborative learning). I am grateful for the work that has gone into "free" software - I just oppose the use of the term "free".

Reading the award page (http://www.gnu.org/award/2002/2002.html) I found a very interesting quote:

We want to give this award to a person who has made a great contribution to the progress and development of Free Software (free as in freedom as defined in the Free Software Definition)

So you see, this IS a GNU award, because it is not given to proponents of free software, but to proponents of GNU software.

Re:Shouldn't this be...

[Anonymous Coward]

The french word gratis seems apt. Free, costing zero dollars.

Re:Shouldn't this be...

[Anonymous Coward]

The licenses page on gnu.org does not mention X11 or BSD,

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html

Re:Shouldn't this be...

[Hope Thelps]

The licenses page on gnu.org does not mention X11 or BSD, and Stallman (as GNU spokesman) has vocally stated that these are not "free" software.

It's difficult to see how anyone could have even glanced at the licenses page and thought that what you said is true. The X11 is the first licence listed after the GNU licences, not easy to miss. In future if you're going to lie you might find it easier to fool people if you pick lies that aren't quite so easy to refute.

HTH

Re:Shouldn't this be...

[Anonymous Coward]

I've never seen a license with so much political mumbo-jumbo as the GPL. If it ever get's tested, the judge is just going to laugh at it.

Political statements are irrelevant to the license, though -- they certainly can't invalidate it. A basic principle of justice is supposed to be that the law doesn't discriminate against people, regardless of their religious or political views.

The GPL is a grant of additional rights.

Suppose I were to give you the keys to my car, with the following politically charged statement, in writing, so that a judge can examine it later.

"You are allowed to drive this hip, groovy, wonderful anarcho-capitalilistic-socialist-uptopian-car-of-t he-century, the vehicle that is beyond all peers and better than any other made, my own one true personal Masda Miata of libertian-fascist goodness, so long as you agree never to drive it beyond the bounds of this great, wonderous, and socially perfect city in which we live"

You are free to disagree with my politics, and still drive the car. But if you drive it out of town, you'll be charged with theft, and convicted. The judge won't let you off because he dislikes the politics of the letter (well, he might, but he's acting illegally if he does so), because, when stripped of political rhetoric, the terms I provided said that you can only drive my car in town. I didn't give you any other permissions, and it's my car, so you don't have them.

The GPL works exactly the same. Copyright law doesn't allow you make derivative works of GNU software without permission. The GPL provides a set of clearly defined terms under which the author grants permission to do something that would otherwise be illegal.

It's hard to invalidate that. The GPL is not a contract. It's a grant of additional rights, under certain strict conditions. A court can't invalidate copyright law, except in special circumstances like declaring it unconstitutional.

To sum up, the judge can laugh at the political statements all he wants, but he has to enforce the law, which states that copyright holders do get to dictate the terms under which copies and derivative works of thier creations can be made.

Whether copyright laws should exist in thier current form and in thier current duration is a debate for another day.

--

AC

Re:Shouldn't this be...

[Eric Herman]

Please go to GNU's web site and view the GPL-Compatible Free Software Licenses

You will find that X11 and The modified BSD license are listed. Even the OriginalBSD License is listed under GPL-Incompatible, Free Software Licenses.

Cheers! And Best Luck to all who promote Free Software ... GNU style, or BSD style.

Re:Shouldn't this be...

[Anonymous Coward]

"Free as in freedom"

freedom to distribute
freedom to modify
etc
with freedom comes responsibility
(slaves have no responsibilty, but free citizens do)

becuase that is what Gnu "Freedom" software is about.

Open Source is a much clearer brand, i cringe every time i see the hugely ambigous "Free Software" and Stallman trying to inflict other perverse language like "Guh-nu Slash Linux".
RMS is like the crazy uncle you love but are terribly embarassed about. Crazy smelly hippy.

Oh. My. God.

[FreeUser]

The Mono project [go-mono.com] has made great strides towards producing a free (GPL and BSD licensed) implementation of the .NET framework that's poised to replace the proprietary Sun/IBM Java installations, which represent one of the final major pieces of non-free software routinely distributed with GNU/Linux.

Funny, no one at my enterpise misses .net functionality. Indeed, not one of a dozen companies I know who are using free software, FreeBSD, and GNU/Linux have any, even remote, desire for .net, or a free "chase the ever moving Microsoft target, oops, stepped on a patent mine!" alternative implimentation of a standard dictated by a convicted monopolist.

As Gtk# [sf.net] continues to mature, it looks like the Mono project will soon be able to provide a powerful cross-platform Java-like envoronment complete with a modern object-oriented language, C#, that has proved so popular in business and enthusiast circles alike, without any of the vendor tie-in associated with Java.

gtk# and mono may be worthwhile projects (much as samba is), but regardless, I can't believe even a slashdot moderator could be so stupid as to mod up such obvious and blatent marketdroid speak. Baseless (and to all appearances inaccurate) claims of C#'s popularity "in business" and "enthusiast circles alike" are only exceeded by the incredibly silly "without any of the vendor tie-in associated with java" comment. As if though .net's "standard" as dictated by Microsoft isn't about as 'vendor tied in' as it gets.

I'm no fan of java (in fact, I loathe it for a number of reasons, not least of which is its byzantine, brain-dead time and date class), but compared to .net it is a godsend. .Net in comparison is a trojan of epic proportions, and Mono is likely just another of its victims.

Re:Oh. My. God.

[Anonymous Coward]

My god, you've missed the point of sarcasm.

Re:Oh. My. God.

[lightcycler]

"As if though .net's "standard" as dictated by Microsoft isn't about as 'vendor tied in' as it gets."

ActivePerl?

I've nominated Per Bothner

[joto]

The man has been involved in pretty much anything in gcc (as in gnu compiler collection, not just gnu c compiler), gdb, and other parts of the toolchain. He has also written Kawa, and been involved in lot's of other free software projects.

I'm not sure if he was the one who started cygnus support, but if he is, that is also something that should help him get the prize (where would free software be without cygnus today?).

I nominate...

[Maniakes]

...This guy

While we're on the topic of OSS/FS awards...

[i_am_nitrogen]

Don't forget about Lindows's "Clicky Award..." Think what you will of Lindows, or LindowsOS, or the name "Clicky," but 50 grand donaed to Open Source software projects is 50 grand. Yeah, $50000US. Go forth and nominate!

Oh, and where it says "we will add you to our mailing database," you can immediately unsubscribe from the Lindows web page.

Re:While we're on the topic of OSS/FS awards...

[jbn-o]

We were never on the topic of "OSS/FS awards". The award is being given "for the Advancement of Free Software". There is no mention of the other movement and for good reason. The event is being organized by the FSF and the GNU project which have no affiliation with the Open Source movement. Please take the time to read the press release and learn the difference between the two movements so you won't be confused and confuse others.

Re:While we're on the topic of OSS/FS awards...

[i_am_nitrogen]

I am aware of the differences, and while my personal software beliefs don't agree 100% with either movement, I'd say I'm probably more aligned to the Free Software movement. My intention was not to confuse people, but rather to indicate that there are similarities between the two, and that the Lindows awards are for both Free Software and Open Source. So, I suppose that my topic is actually an extension of the original topic from FS only into OSS/FS, but I don't think that invalidates my point.

OT : Which one?

[Anonymous Coward]

its byzantine, brain-dead time and date class

Which one? There are 4 that come to mind.

The newest "Calendar" class isn't TOO terrible (but if you intend on using a DB, you have to convert it back and forth to java.sql.Date).

I nominate Doc Searls

[linuxislandsucks]

Nominate Doc Searls, he has done more to advance open source computing through his writing than most..

his weblog is here:

http://doc.weblogs.com

Re:I nominate Doc Searls

[jbn-o]

...he has done more to advance open source computing through his writing than most.

Then it would be inappropriate to grant him an award "for the advancement of Free Software". Perhaps you weren't aware of the difference between the Free Software and Open Source movements.

ROTFLOL because.. (Re:Gates)

[The J Kid]

I nominate Bill Gates. He should get the award for advancing free software

You seem not to be the only one that wants Bill Gates too recieve it...

from the list of 1999 Free Software Award Nominees: ...Fractint Team, FreeBSD Team, Bill Gates, John Gilmore, Andi Gutmans....

I have one thing too say:

ROTFLOL !

I've got an idea!

[Anonymous Coward]

If we all vote for KDE, maybe we can get RMS's head to explode!

Re:I've got an idea!

[Anonymous Coward]

You should vote for Mattias Ettrich. I'm suprised that he hasn't gotten the award while miguel has.

All miguel does it prop up proprietary companies with software that benefits the adoptions of said companies' new technologies

Re:I've got an idea!

[Anonymous Coward]

Cool, I'm also going to vote for Matthias Ettrich for his work on Lyx, and KDE and Qt.

Re:He already did! - but...

[victim]

Linus Torvalds has received the award, but the plaque was engraved...
GNU/Linus Torvalds
in order to reduce confusion.

Nonsense

[AirLace]

I know who are using free software, FreeBSD, and GNU/Linux have any, even remote, desire for .net, or a free "chase the ever moving Microsoft target

I'm a firm believer that anyone who took the bytecode compile-once-run-anywhere concept, took a look at Java and then pumped millions of dollars into improving on it would have come up with something akin to .NET. I only run Free Software (Debian GNU/Linux, main) so the fact that it comes from Microsoft is just a detail to me. Take away the added bonus of compatibility with Microsoft's .NET implementation and you still have a next-generation bytecode platform. It makes a very fair attempt at supporting multiple languages (wheras any attempt to do so with the Java bytecode is a cludge). At the end of the day, C# and .NET far exceed everything I could ever wish for from a Free Software VM platform. Remember that Linux and open source in general have taken many ideas from non-free software from the behemoths of their days, by imitating the best ideas from commercial software (think GNU/UNIX).

C#'s popularity "in business" and "enthusiast circles alike"

This may have come accross as 'marketdroidish' but the point I'm trying to make is that there are over 100 Mono developers with CVS access, and many more who contribute code through the mailing lists. Mono has been an enabling factor for many MSCE types to start dabbling with Mono and thus Linux. The internal structure of the Mono project is an excellent example of how enthusiasts and companies with commercial interests can work together to hack some really cool code.

At the end of the day, Mono hackers hack Mono because they love the technology. .NET really grows on you -- please don't try to tear it apart without at least giving Mono a go. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Re:Nonsense

[FreeUser]

At the end of the day, Mono hackers hack Mono because they love the technology. .NET really grows on you -- please don't try to tear it apart without at least giving Mono a go. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Mono and gtk# have neither my ire nor my adoration. What annoyed me was the very real "marketdroid" sound of your post. Apologies if my reaction was scathing, but I have a low tolerance for such things even when they come out in support of something I like (e.g. GNU/Linux). When it comes out in support of something I'm skeptical of to begin with my tolerance is even lower.

I think the .net approach to things in general is not a very good idea, from both a security and a privacy perspective. Add to that the very real liklihood of Microsoft using it to entrap people using it onto their platform, the liklihood of their leveraging patents, copyright (and undocumented "features"), and making ad-hoc modifactions to the standard itself (something they as the owner of the standard can do at will), and I think Mono stands a good chance of discovering Microsoft's "open standard" to be little more than a Tar Baby.

That having been said, no one would be happier than I to eat crow and be proven wrong, so while I am profoundly skeptical of Mono (and certainly don't think it warrents consideration for the FSF award, at least not yet), I wish the project both luck and success.

Re:Nonsense

[Anonymous Coward]

I think the .net approach to things in general is not a very good idea, from both a security and a privacy perspective. Add to that the very real liklihood of Microsoft using it to entrap people using it onto their platform, the liklihood of their leveraging patents, copyright (and undocumented "features"), and making ad-hoc modifactions to the standard itself (something they as the owner of the standard can do at will), and I think Mono stands a good chance of discovering Microsoft's "open standard" to be little more than a Tar Baby.

okay, this just proves your ignorance of what Mono is all about. Mono != .Net. That's the first-of-all. Secondly, what security/privacy perspective? C# is a friggin' programming langauge!! Thirdly, while it *is* possible that Microsoft might try to leverage their patents...it is extremely unlikely that it would hold water in court - seeing as how they have submitted their language to the ECMA. Also, Mono is being very careful about not looking at Microsoft's implementations so that they may stay "pure". Fourthly, it is stated in the FAQ that Mono wants to avoid straying from the ECMA standard, but that does not mean that it will necessarily try to match Microsoft's implementation class-for-class. It doesn't need to in order to be useful. Does g++ contain all the classes that MSVC++ has? No. Does it make g++ any less useful? No.

Re:Nonsense

[FreeUser]

okay, this just proves your ignorance of what Mono is all about. Mono != .Net.

I never said that it was. It is, however, chasing the .Net standard, with a stated goal of compatability. My point remains.

Secondly, what security/privacy perspective? C# is a friggin' programming langauge!!

C# is not equal to .Net. Now your ignorance is showing, as well as your inability or unwillingness to comprehend my post. The point you so stunningly fail to rebutt discusses Mono's .Net efforts, not their C# implimentation. Hint: I did not mention or discuss C# anywhere, except to point out that I had neither ire nor adoration for gtk#.

while it *is* possible that Microsoft might try to leverage their patents...it is extremely unlikely that it would hold water in court - seeing as how they have submitted their language to the ECMA.

Here you display an apalling ignorance of patent law. Courts will not nullify a patent merely because it has been submitted as part of a public standard, nor will they rule it unenforcable. You are probably misremembering the people who got slapped down for fraud and contract breach when they tried to enforce patents they had publicly stated, in writing were not a part of the standard they had helped to define.

Microsoft has made no such claim, signed no such agreement, and their patents will remain perfectly enforcable regardless of how many standards incorporate them. If they are somehow overturned it will be because of traditional prior art, something no one can count on and something that has absolutely no bearing on how far and widely the technique may have been implimented or be in use.

Also, Mono is being very careful about not looking at Microsoft's implementations so that they may stay "pure".

Which, once again, means nothing with respect to patent law. Good Lord, learn something about patent law before making such gradiose, and incorrect, assertions.

Fourthly, it is stated in the FAQ that Mono wants to avoid straying from the ECMA standard, but that does not mean that it will necessarily try to match Microsoft's implementation class-for-class. It doesn't need to in order to be useful.

They are striving for compatability. Your assumption that they may settle for less may be true, but it is just as likely false, moreso given the project's public statements on the matter. Do you really know anything about anything you're discussing here?

Does g++ contain all the classes that MSVC++ has? No. Does it make g++ any less useful? No.

GCC does adhere to K&R C and various ANSI C and C++ standards. GCC is not, and makes no pretense about, trying to maintain MSVC++ compatability. Mono is trying to achieve .NET compatability. That makes any comparisons between the two in the context of this thread completely absurd and irrelevant.

Frankly I didn't think anyone, not even an anonymous coward or a deliberate troll, could be as ignorant about as many points in a discussion as you have proven to be.

Debian Project

[Florian]

I couldn't think of a project that has done more for the advancement of free software (in practical terms) than Debian. The years of continuous good work seem to pay off now. While RedHat is popular among corporate customers, Mandrake (and, in Europe: SuSE) among newbie users and people who boot into GNU/Linux only occasionally, it seems as if Debian is becoming the de facto standard distribution of non-corporate advanced users (who typically pick Debian as their second distribution and then stick with it). As a genuinely free distribution, Debian is also much appreciated in education; my university, for example, hosts its own Debian FTP mirror.

While Debian's Free Software-only politics was controversial some years ago - anyone remember the ugly term "Debian Nazi"? -, it no longer seems so due to DMCA, patenting, and perversions of copyright. Debian has done invaluable work for the Free Software community by thoroughly reviewing the licensing of the software it ships, freeing users from the hassle to become legal experts. Debian users enjoy both the technical excellence and the legal safety of running Debian "main".

It would be good if the FSF Award were given to Debian to finance work on the new Debian installer. This is the last showstopper piece which prevents massive newbie user adoption of this distribution.

Re:Debian Project

[gnugnugnu]

> the new Debian installer

they have another one besides the text based and the graphical one they got from Progeny?

http://hackers.progeny.com/pgi/

Re:Debian Project

[binaryfeed]

Though I am a debian user and agree with you wholeheartedly, which person do we give the award to for Debian? Ian Murdock, the one who started the project? The current DPL? I believe the nominations have to be for people.

Re:Debian Project

[alleria]

Frankly, I don't see Debian as being only for 'advanced' users now. My qualifications for saying this? I'm a newly-minted Debian (linux overall) user who tried Mandrake 8 and RedHat 7.3 a few weeks ago, and gave up in utter disgust at how horribly broken their 'graphical config' tools are. (RedHat is admittedly much better than Mandrake in this regard, which sent my X server into impossible video modes in an infinite loop after I changed a few unrelated settings).

Wanting to try out *NIX in general, I then gave the BSDs a try. FreeBSD's hardware detect was so horrible it wouldn't even boot, and NetBSD seemed to not like the way DHCP was configured, or somesuch. OpenBSD installed well and securely, but X configuration was something out of a horror novel.

I'll admit that I'm slightly different from the average windows user, having paid my dues in the good (bad?) old days of DOS 5.0/WindowsFW 3.11, but the text-only boot-floppies install system aside (getting replaced anyways for sarge's release, as I understand it), Debian is just dead-simple to use. Sure, install asks questions that require thought, and I'd like to see more "if you don't know wtf we are saying, answer no" prompts, but in general, it is well thought-out.

I need not sing praises for apt (its benefits are well-known now), except to say that it is truly bulletproof, accounting not only for dependencies, conflicts, etc., but actually dealing with broken-off downloads on a dialup by resuming them -- a godsemnd when trying to update big debian-security packages over a modem.

Lastly: no, it's generally not the newest and shineyest, but everything is just _so_ well tested. While the bug list(s) may *look* impressively long, Woody at least is just as stable in the user-space as Win2k + properly configured apps.

Both Linux and Win2k have fairly stable kernels that don't crash a whole lot now, but in my past (brief) dalliances with SuSE 6.4, at that time, and with that distro, the apps were just bugggy and crashy. Debian's outstanding package maintainers take care of that by making the userspace programs as much of a technical tour-de-force as the kernel-space stuff, thus creating a truly superior experience for a novice user like me.

By creating a truly well-integrated, maintained, and bug-free distro, IMHO Debian contributes significantly to free/open software's cause.

Re:Debian Project

[Anonymous Coward]

I disagree - I nominate Red Hat for the award. Through their contributions to GCC and the kernel (that base for the entire GNU/Linux system, and the BSDs), as well as GNOME/GTK, they have advanced Free software enormously. What's more, they rarely seem to get credit for it... just mistrust and abuse.

It's about time they were recognised.

Re:Debian Project

[Anonymous Coward]

The debian contributors ARE people :)

If the award isn't suited to Debian, then it should be thought over some more. Debian is a perfect example of contribution to Free Software.

Re:Debian Project

[Anonymous Coward]

I think he's referring to the installation process, rather than the usual post-installation package management utils. But yes, BOTH areas have & are being worked on in Debian, just like many other areas.

Re:Debian Project

[br00tus]

I don't think repetition of a point is usually necessary, but I think this is a case where it is. I think it bears repeating that Debian needs work done on its installer. You can weigh the relative merits of Debian Linux versus FreeBSD, but I think it's indisputable that FreeBSD's installer has blown away Debian's for years. They are 100% correct that the installer prevents adoption, if I'm rushed for time, and I always am, I know I can do an easy remote FreeBSD install or slog my way through a remote Debian install.

Nope

[Anonymous Coward]

KDE and QT are 100% Free Software.

Re:Nope

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, but won't forcing RMS to accept this make his head explode? Just a little? Maybe his foot?

I Should Get It

[Anonymous Coward]

I should get it, because I'm cool.

I nominate the BSA

[Anonymous Coward]

Thats business software alliance.
For work above and beyond the call of duty. For being such immense pains in the ass that customer come running over to the open source side.
Once again thank you BSA for all of your hard work and keep that litigation going.
Anytime you find yourself without work just give me a call and I will be more than happy to turn in my former employers who were running Microsoft software illegally.

materilistic

[oliverthered]

For a bunch of people all advocating freedome your being very materialistic.

So I nominate RMS for the GPL and the ideas behind free software.
For all the GNU tools.

and for being able to stir up an argument like no-one else.

some people might think he's a big anal, but so was Einestine, he didn't 'believe' in qauntum physics.

Re:materilistic

[shadow303]

He is one of the people specificly mentioned as ineligible.

Sorry, he doesn't qualify

[Anonymous Coward]

Since he has actually held a job at least once in his life.

Nominate

[Anonymous Coward]

I am thinking that I am wanting to nominate 'art' for his work in syncing UBC branch to -current.

Re:He already did! - but...

[bhsx]

oh man.. where are my mod points????

oh crap, now i gotta go pee...

Really??

[Eric Damron]

"...C#, that has proved so popular in business and enthusiast circles alike ..."

Really? I just attended a technical conference in which the .NET was introduced. The reaction from the group of software engineers was truly frightening. I thought for a while that we were going to have an old style lynching. I don't believe that .NET has proven very popular at all. Further, I believe that most programmers feel that Microsoft is trying to ram it down our throats.

I nominate...

[RadioheadKid]

Chris "Monty" Montgomery the mastermind behind Ogg Vorbis and cdparanoia.

CowboyNeal

[Jungle guy]

CowboyNeal has my vote! Where can I vote for this poll?

Free==worthless, money==productive?

[RealDhar]

DO something productive, something that makes money.

I guess we know where your values lie.

-g.

Re:HAHAHAHAHA!

[Anonymous Coward]

If Microsoft products really did suck half as much as the people here claim, then everyone would stop using them. But geeks just can't live without the latest games and their BSOD fix.

GNU is a subset of free

[The Pim]

"GNU software" refers to software expressly under the GNU banner. Most free software is not GNU software. And indeed you'll note that the past recipients of the award are known mostly for their non-GNU software. So your suggestion is clearly off the mark.

People--including the FSF--have tried for a long time to come up with a better (English) term than "free software". The only one that has caught on is "open source", which has entirely different connotations. "Free software" is imperfect, but it's what we got.

Re:GNU is a subset of free

[aardvarkjoe]

They could use "libre software" (or "software libre"), or "GNU/free". (Those two happen to be the ones that I think are most reasonable; but I've seen lots of suggestions.)

The OP is perfectly correct, though, in saying that the "free software" movement attempts to capitalize on the fact that the phrase means "software without monetary cost", not "software that is licensed in a way which protects the FSF's idea of your freedoms." I don't think that they have made any real attempts to come up with a better term.

Yet another reason why I choose to identify myself with the "open source" camp instead.

Re:GNU is a subset of free

[The Pim]

the "free software" movement attempts to capitalize on the fact that the phrase means "software without monetary cost"

Given how strenuously they emphasize that it's "free as in freedom", I don't think you can justify this accusation.

As for the examples you gave, "libre" is not English, and "GNU/free" is not a word. Both pretty significant disadvantages.

How about these guys?!?

[tlambert]

How about Paul Vixie, for maintaining the comp.sources archives for forever, so that they didn't get lost in the mists of time?

How about Fred Fish, who pretty much single-handedly invented the compilation distribution disk?

How about CSRG for BSD UNIX?

How about Kernighan and Ritchie, for the C language?

How about DECUS, for the DECUS tapes?

How about Ward Christensen and Randy Suess, for inventing the modem, and giving the idea away?

How about Ward Christensen again, for inventing the Xmodem protocol, and giving the software away?

-- Terry

Re:How about these guys?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

Edsger Dijkstra for the advancement of computer science at large. Compared to Dijkstra, RMS is a midget.

Re:How about these guys?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

What the F did E.D. have to do with free software ? Not that he isn't great, more of a genius than RMS or whatever, but we aren't nominating Einstein or Tom Jefferson now are we ? Its a FREE SOFTWARE award. E.D. didn't even type his papers in; he wrote them by hand.

Re:How about these guys?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

You must be living in a 20 year time warp.

We all suck?

[Door-opening Fascist]

Then why is it that Microsoft has the most bugs of any mainstream OS, and also takes the longest to fix them? AFAIK, there are no open vulnerabilities in any major software package (e.g. Apache, OpenSSH).

Re:We all suck?

[fault0]

> Then why is it that Microsoft has the most bugs of any mainstream OS

Not trying to be a Microsoft-lover or anything, but perhaps this is because Microsoft products are in use most? And the fact that for many markets, their products are the ONLY mainstream OS?

While I abhor Windows, I'd have to say that things like WindowsXP are a increadibly complicate piece of coding. Of course, Microsoft has the money to hire the programmers to do it.

-- watches as he gets moderated down

Re:We all suck?

[kingkade]

Heh, I love how the grandparent and ones like them all think the NT kernel is a joke (based on "poor" software) and haven't ever pic-up an operating systems book, or know next-to-nothing on its internals.

Re:Argentina as a role model

[budalite]

It might not be a good idea right now to use things Argentine as any sort of a role model, especially if it has anything do with money.

Icaza is Bill Gate's best buddy

[Anonymous Coward]

Indeed, we need to boycott the FSF awards for letting Icaza start GNOME.

In 1997 KDE was becoming popular and well known. Then the FSF people began bashing KDE, and they decided to begin another project - GNOME instead of providing a free Qt clone. If they would have started a free Qt clone, we would have now ONE desktop environment with much more active developers, a free toolkit, and lot more software instead of this stupid desktop war we have now.

Icaza is Bill Gate's best buddy. Thanks to him, Linux will never rule the desktop! You can evidently prove it by his liking of .NET/C#

Re:Icaza is Bill Gate's best buddy

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, then we could all have whistled merrily as the KDE project was pig-thick and dishonest enough to use a proprietary toolkit (Qt) as their base - thereby violating the GPL and inserting a timebomb into the Linux desktop that is still ticking away today.

Bill Gates/Steve Ballmer

[anonymous cupboard]

It may seem odd nominating these guys but their pronouncements and actions running Microsoft have probably done more to worry people enough to start running Open Source software. It isn't like other closed source companies are doing the same thing, but should they get to a dominant position, they too have the same powers to abuse their customers.

Seriously though, my vote would go to the Peruvian guy for writing such an eloquent argument!!

For great contribution to 'free' gaming...

[PeteyG]

Daniel Horn of Vega Strike would be my nomination. Mr. Horn is the main man behind Vega Strike; which is a space combat and trade game that is beautiful, fun to play, and is completely cross platform. He spends hours of every day tracking down bugs, giving excellent direct support to anyone who has problems with the game (and usually getting the problems fixed!), and adding features for the next release.

Thanks to him, not only is Vega Strike becoming one of the top open source games, but it is also the most modern game in its genre (think Elite and Privateer). Daniel Horn would be an excellent choice for this award.

John Carmack

[fault0]

I've already nominated someone, but anyone want to nominate John Carmack?

He's released much of id's older under the GPL, most recently Quake2.

I think he gives a good balance between making money in the commercial sector and releasing code for people to learn and develop from. When a game engine is no longer profitable, he releases it. I think this should serve as a model to other companies to release the code for their old software/abandonware, especially in games.

Re:John Carmack

[Anonymous Coward]

I just finished and sent my nomination for John Carmack. I'm not one who goes blindly saying that "Carmack is the MAN".... but as an independent game developer, I have to say that his released code is a great benifit to the independent game development community. His contributions are well appreciated, at least by me.

Re:"I am a goat fucker!" -Richard Stallman, 1994

[Anonymous Coward]

Hi.

I originally posted this on slashdot back in 1999 or so. Except I didn't have the last line, or the "I am a goat fucker" quote.

Now I plugged it into google and I also found this stallmananus geocities page.

So what the fuck do you guys do ? Just archive shit like this so you can pull it out later ? Was this really that well written that it was worth it ?

I think I posted it on sid=trolltalk before Taco cleaned up slashdot and got rid of the hidden sids.

Sorry I cannot post logged in to claim credit because . . . well, I don't want anyone to know I wrote that.

But it is all true.

Only two real choices

[Anonymous Coward]

Debian, by default. Or, perhaps, sun and/or OpenOffice.org. Anything else is fairly timid by comparison with these two.

What I'd really like to see is a big hardware manufacturer given the award, just for being the first to seriously commit to open drivers etc. I'm not sure anyone has earned that in the hardware sector, though :((

It's GOT to be...

[Anonymous Coward]

Linuxchicks!!!!!!!!

Just asking for a religous war...

[Sanity]

...what about Gentoo? Why is the distribution that happens to be favored by non-corporate advanced users any more deserving of recognition than distributions which serve other sets of users?

This is not that I don't like Debian (although I don't have the patience to use it as a desktop OS), but it is dangerous to nominate one project where many other equivolent projects exist, and where there is an ongoing debate as to which is best.

Debian's longer history

[Goonie]

Not knocking Gentoo, but Debian has been doing a comprehensive volunteer distribution for an extremely long time, and demonstrated its ongoing viability through leadership changes and occasional political turbulence.

Gentoo, though by all reports I've heard it's excellent, is a much newer project.

Re:"I am a goat fucker!" -Richard Stallman, 1994

[Anonymous Coward]

> So what the fuck do you guys do ? Just archive shit like this so you can pull it out later ? Was this really that well written that it was worth it ?

Yes, exactly. There are some nice archives of classic trolls that many people on slashNET have. I haven't been on irc for a long time, so I don't know if many people have it any more. Just ask around.

Yeah, but well, I guess your post was well written.

William Gates

[chazzf]

In providing a common (perceived) enemy Gates and Microsoft have given free software a goal, something to strive for. We're fighting the Evil Empire, looking to develop better products. In a word: competition. If there was no Microsoft, what would drive most of this development? Rather, if there was not an unhinged company making inferior closed-source software, I doubt there would have been such a flow of free software because it would not have been necessary.

Given that, one could argue that Gates caused all our problems so screw 'em, but I would rather concentrate on the beautiful cooperation and spirit demonstrated by GNU/Linux/BSD/ developers around the world.

Just remember: Gates made you do it

~Chazzf

Linux in Schools

[Anonymous Coward]

Linux in schools has been a big movement this past year, and they could probably use some more support.

• Linux Terminal Server Project
  
• SEUL for Education
  
• The Open Source Schools Portal
  
• Schoolforge
  
• The K12Linux in Schools Project
  
• The KDE Edutainment Project

I haven't been following these projects so I don't know who's emerged as a good leader, but I believe this kind of work is critical for the advancement of Free Software. Somebody throw up some names, please.

Argentine

[oliverthered]

I thought he was in Peru?
any-how free software isn't about money.
it's free as in speech no free as in beer.

ineligible.

[oliverthered]

That doesn't meen you can't nominate him, don't forget it the thought that counts.

Meterilistic

[oliverthered]

You are greed pasonified and that is the reason that free is, free as in speech. free speech is a moral constuct, free beer is just your luck.

WAS THAT "OFFTOPIC SHIT" OR "OFFTOPIC, SHIT"?

[Anonymous Coward]