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FSF Award for the Advancement of Free Software

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the free-as-in-freedom dept.

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."

4 of 196 comments (clear)

  1. Shouldn't this be... by corrosiv · · Score: 4, Insightful


    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.

  2. Debian Project by Florian · · Score: 5, Insightful
    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.

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    gopher://cramer.plaintext.cc http://cramer.plaintext.cc:70
  3. I nominate... by RadioheadKid · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

    --
    "Karma can only be portioned out by the cosmos." -Homer Simpson
  4. John Carmack by fault0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.