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The Prestigious Free Software Award Goes to Karen Sandler (sfconservancy.org)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the come-along-and-share-the-software dept.

Each year the Free Software award goes to someone making "a great contribution to the progress and development of free software, through activities that accord with the spirit of free software." This year's winner is a former executive of the GNOME Foundation, Karen Sandler. Jeremy Allison - Sam, Slashdot reader #8,157, brought this announcement. Richard Stallman, President of the FSF, presented Sandler with the award during a ceremony. Stallman highlighted Sandler's dedication to software freedom. Stallman told the crowd that Sandler's "vivid warning about backdoored nonfree software in implanted medical devices has brought the issue home to people who never wrote a line of code. Her efforts, usually not in the public eye, to provide pro bono legal advice to free software organizations and [with Software Freedom Conservancy] to organize infrastructure for free software projects and copyleft defense, have been equally helpful."

In her acceptance speech, Sandler spoke about her dedication to free software as a patient, advocate and professional. "Coming to terms with a dangerous heart condition should never have cost me fundamental control over the technology that my life relies on", said Sandler... "This issue is personal not just for me but for anyone who relies on software, and today that means every single person."

60 comments

  1. Fee software award?? by davidwr · · Score: 2

    Each year the Fee Software award goes to someone making "a great contribution to the progress and development of free software, through activities that accord with the spirit of free software." [emphasis added]

    Sometimes spell-check just isn't enough.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
    1. Re:Fee software award?? by Provocateur · · Score: 1

      I think "EditorDavid" is improperly named.
       
      EditorDavidAgainstSlashdotGoliath?

      --
      WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
  2. Which wall??? by davidwr · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Since you mentioned Linux and women, I have to ask, do you mean the "wall" that keeps women from rising to near-parity with men in STEM fields?

    That wall has been up longer than I've been alive and it's long past time it came down.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
    1. Re: Which wall??? by Millennium · · Score: 0

      I think he means the wall women put try to put between themselves and him when he's been creeping on them.

    2. Re:Which wall??? by RandomFactor · · Score: 2

      In code, noone can see your plumbing.

      --
      --- Mercutio was right.
    3. Re: Which wall??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Incorrect. The idiot has never worked with real women. Real women in a tech role blend in and are indistinguishable from the men. You basically don't even realize that you are working with these women. When the Slashdot SJWs come along and talk about it, they are talking about the attention queens that pick a career or job going into it with a chip on their shoulders. "Tech" is a masculine field because generally it is MEN who are interested in it. Most of us here couldn't care less about teaching elementary school or marketing cosmetics.

    4. Re: Which wall??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      More like the wall some women make up to self-justify being inept (and taking the good ones as hostages). It's always good to have an abstract external excuse at hand.

    5. Re:Which wall??? by ortholattice · · Score: 1

      In code, noone can see your plumbing.

      She's a lawyer, not a coder, who advocates for free software and provides related legal advice, often pro bono.

    6. Re:Which wall??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In code, noone can see your plumbing.

      If your plumbing is doing its job well, nobody will ever want or need to see it.

      Oh wait, you meant plumbing. My bad.

    7. Re:Which wall??? by epyT-R · · Score: 2

      You mean the walls made from choices that free women make willingly in order to shape their lives as they choose? Men do this, too, btw. The only thing wrong here is your assumption that the outcomes must be evenly distributed.

    8. Re: Which wall??? by Millennium · · Score: 1

      Here's a hint. When one woman puts a wall between you and her, that's her problem. When all women put walls between themselves and you, that's your problem. We have no reason to think that the woman in the article has ever interacted with the poster I responded to, so we must conclude his bitterness was directed at women in general. Thus, he's a creep.

    9. Re:Which wall??? by davidwr · · Score: 2

      While your point is valid in theory, is does not completely explain the gender disparity in STEM and, for that matter, in other fields.

      In a "perfect" world where there was no gender-specific pressure to pursue careers, I would expect most fields (all except those few which depend on gender-specific physical or psychological attributes) to be a lot closer to 50/50 than they are in most STEM fields are today in the United States.

      In America, there are still too many teenagers and young adults whose early educational years had gender biases that "pushed" people toward certain fields and away from others based on their gender. I do not know if this is still true for today's under-10-year-olds but even if it's not, it will be at least 15 years for the existing bias to stop appearing in the statistics of career choices of fresh college graduates.

      In America, there is also still some degree of "male favoritism" in many of the STEM fields once you start a career. Sadly, there are still a few managers who will treat male employees better than female employees simply because they are male or, more subtly, simply because they travel in the same male-dominated social circles.

      --
      Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
    10. Re:Which wall??? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Having a womb that employers are afraid of isn't a choice.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  3. Re: Linux joins #METOO movement! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nah, everyone gets a star now! Just need to make up some more awards.

  4. Prestigious? by TWX · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I've used Linux for 22 years and participated in forums and discussions related to the kernel and to various projects off and on. I've never heard of this award. How is it prestigious?

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    1. Re:Prestigious? by twistedcubic · · Score: 1

      I've used Linux for 17+ years and participated in forums and discussions, etc., and I first heard of this award more than 15 years ago. Seriously. And I'm just a teacher.

    2. Re:Prestigious? by mi · · Score: 1

      The rule of thumb is, if one has to explicitly call it "prestigious" when describing, there is no prestige gained by getting it...

      --
      In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    3. Re:Prestigious? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      She is more on the GNU side. She did a lot of work with GNOME and tried for more than a decade to get the source code to her heart implant.

      Kinda scary that a person can have to rely on closed source code just to stay alive.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    4. Re: Prestigious? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      If by "accomplishment" you mean nearly bankrupting Gnome, then yes. She is accomplished.

    5. Re:Prestigious? by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      But, but, but, it's (not knowing how the individual wishes to gender Identify, me I prefer attack helicopter although I am considering wedge tail eagle, bungil for short https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/..., so who am I to guess about other people's gender) a lawyer not a coder, what has the FOSS world come to, the horror. Good to see there is much more to FOSS than just cantankerous coders ;D.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    6. Re:Prestigious? by spth · · Score: 1

      Well, the FSF is definitely important when it comes to Free Software. This is their main award. It is given to people who did a lot to advance free software, often to some who brought free software into an area where previously only non-free software was available. Sometimes it is given to people who did so by writing code, sometimes to people who do so by advocacy, sometimes to people who did both. Some past examples that I had known before include: 2000 Brian Paul, bringing freedom to 3D graphics drivers 2002 Lawrence Lessig, for promoting understanding of the political dimension of free software 2004 Theo de Raadt, bringing freedom to WiFi drivers 2015 Werner Koch, advancing free encryption software But there are people on the list whose name I had never heard before. While I hadn't known about Karen Sandler's work promoting free software for implanted medical devices before, successful work on such a cause would make her perfectly fit into the list of people who received the award.

    7. Re:Prestigious? by LostMyBeaver · · Score: 1

      I had to lookup the definition for "prestigious"

      If Stallman is involved, can it be considered prestigious?

      Does he know yet that the GPL is dead?

  5. Who and what? by Phoeniyx · · Score: 1

    Who is this woman and what is this "prestigious" award?

    1. Re:Who and what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A lawyer

    2. Re:Who and what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is Karen Sandler: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFZGpES-St8

    3. Re:Who and what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

      She is the one who bankupted the Gnome foundation with advocacy programs.

    4. Re:Who and what? by afranke · · Score: 1

      The GNOME Foundation was never bankrupt.

    5. Re: Who and what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think she needs an award for that one by itself. AmIright?

    6. Re:Who and what? by spth · · Score: 1

      As you could know by reading the summary, someone who worked to promote free software in the area of implanted medical devices, where previously only non-free software existed. The award has previously been given to people who did similar things (e.g. for 3D graphics drivers, Wifi drivers) by coding or advocacy.

  6. Congratulations #8,157 by thegarbz · · Score: 1

    Whoever the hell you are.

    1. Re:Congratulations #8,157 by afranke · · Score: 1

      He’s best know for his work on Samba, and for pushing for some notable software (like Cygwin and XFS) to be released under the GPL.

  7. Karen Sandler is an SJW who almost destroyed GNOME by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    https://www.reddit.com/r/TheRe...

    https://pukeko.net.nz/blog/201...

    https://voxday.blogspot.co.uk/...

  8. Fixed at last Re:Fee software award?? by davidwr · · Score: 1

    It took more than a few minutes but the typo is fixed.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  9. Bureaucrats congratulating bureaucrats by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The ones doing the actual work are irrelevant. And gosh forbid, awarding the corporations that have paid the engineers who made the most contributions.

  10. they're all going to laugh at you! by slashdice · · Score: 1

    Wow, fantastic (and blessed) news on Easter Sunday. I've loved Karen Sandler's work going back to Saturday Night Live. And while most SNL alumni fade to obscurity (or direct to DVD), Sandler turned into a great actress and producer. Then she bravely cut off her penis and made great contributions to Free Software. I can't even imagine what she'll do next!

    --
    Copyright (c) 1990 - 2014 Dice. All rights reserved. Use of this comment is subject to certain Terms and Conditions.
  11. Plot Twist! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Said "woman" really has a cock larger than both of ours combined. She's been raping the linux foundation with 'her' mandingo dick in real time.

    So prestigious!

  12. A woman, how novel! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A woman, how novel! I hear they don't have penises, you know.

  13. Re:Karen Sandler is an SJW who almost destroyed GN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That being said, GNOME was horseshit even before she showed up.

  14. Re:Karen Sandler is an SJW who almost destroyed GN by afranke · · Score: 3, Interesting

    That’s bullshit. That reddit thread takes data on a short period of time and doesn’t take the whole picture into consideration. The GNOME Foundation never diverted money from its budget to spend it on OPW. All expenses had matching income (+ a commission for administrative fees), but they may not show up in the report for the same year. Take the annual reports for 2011—2017 and you’ll be able to see it.

    The issue that OPW created for GNOME and that started this rumour was cash flow, because sponsors took too much time to pay their invoices and GNOME ended up fronting the stipends for interns.

    Parent should be moded down because it is the opposite of “informative”.

  15. Re:Karen Sandler is an SJW who almost destroyed GN by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Informative

    For one month there was an issue where paying interns was scheduled to happen before sponsors paid the foundation, and because the programme was growing quickly there was a temporary shortfall. It was resolved quickly and without drama.

    This was at the height of the anti-SJW movement. Vox Day wrote some nonsense about it (your third link), others reposted (your second link is just a Day repost) and the narrative that the Outreachy programme was destroying GNOME became fake news.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  16. Re:Karen Sandler is an SJW who almost destroyed GN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    LOL - cue the legions of geldings rushing to say that a) GNOME was never bankrupt b) it wasn't Karen's fault.

    Well... a) is actually true. GNOME never actually declared bankruptcy... it just ran out of money as it suddenly and unexpectedly found that it had no cash left, and had to rush to corporate sponsors to beg for more - which it got.

    b) Karen Sandler approved and bankrolled massive outreach programs... which consisted of paying women to do minor shit that men do for free. Effectively, bankrolling the further takeover of GNOME by SJW allies and their entryist games. Shame it got uncovered because the daft cunt was too eager with the handouts.

  17. Just curious by pchasco · · Score: 1

    Only followed the link to the comments to see how many comments before someone claimed she only got the award for being a woman.

  18. Re:Karen Sandler is an SJW who almost destroyed GN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The issue that OPW created for GNOME and that started this rumour was cash flow, because sponsors took too much time to pay their invoices and GNOME ended up fronting the stipends for interns.

    So if they hadn't hired the OPW interns, they wouldn't have had a cash-flow problem?

    Thanks for confirming that the OPW program was the cause.

  19. Re:Karen Sandler is an SJW who almost destroyed GN by cats-paw · · Score: 1

    you don't understand. it's the latest fashion for the moderators.

    just mention SJW and get automatic upvotes.

    --
    Absolute statements are never true
  20. And she gets a COOKIE for her work! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now that's a REWARD!

    You do it for FREE!

    And now THEY don't have to PAY YOU!

    SUCKA!

  21. Re:Karen Sandler is an SJW who almost destroyed GN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It is informative in the sense it reminds everyone about the infamous Outreach Program for Women which is just money thrown through the windows

  22. Re:NOTHING to do with software, but she has a vagi by spth · · Score: 1

    While the award has mostly been given to those who advanced free software by writing code, it was always considered an award for those who advance free software, including those who do so in ways other than coding.

    When Lawrence Lessing got the award in 2002 it wasn't for writing code.

  23. The award is political by spth · · Score: 1

    While the award is always given to someone who helped advance free software, there are many such people, and giving the award also sends a political message. The FSF is surely aware of that and gives the award accordingly.

    IMO, clearly the main message of this award is that FSF wants to emphasize the importance of software freedom in implanted medical devices.

    People always have a choice of refusing to use non-free software, usually at the cost of some convenience. In many areas (e.g. compilers) free software is so great that there is no such cost. In others areas it might be high. For implanted medical devices that cost is particularly high, usually the user's life or health.

    To few people are aware of the issue, and too few are working on improving the situation. Giving the award to someone who has been working on the issue for a decade might help improve that a little bit.

    Of course the award also sends other messages. With the recent dispute between SFLC and SFC, by giving the award to the executive director of the SFC, the FSF is also sending a message that they support the side that takes a tougher position on GPL enforcement.