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Free Software Foundation Wins $25,000 Award

Posted by Roblimo on from the if-this-isn't-worthwhile-we-don't-know-what-is dept.

tgeller writes "The Free Software Foundation (FSF) just won a $25,000 IDG/Linus Torvalds Community Award "for its continued support of the Linux community". This one's from publisher/expo organizer International Data Group. See the press release. What, Stallman's $100K Macarthur Fellowship wasn't enough? :) " Silliness aside, some big congrats are in order here.

38 comments

  1. Re:Edison and Tesla by John+Allsup · · Score: 1

    If you recall, the first FSF Free Software award went to Larry Wall for his development of PERL and other free software. Linus, RMS and similar people were adjudged ineligible because they had received enough for their contributions already.
    John

    --
    John_Chalisque
  2. How about just giving tribute where it's due by Analogue+Kid · · Score: 1
    Modern physics would be nothing yet for the tireless work of last century's physicists. Does this mean I have to refer to Newtonian/Einsteinian physics? My computer would be nothing without it's motherboard, so do I have to refer to it as my FEC/AMD?

    No, it's fine to refer to reletivity as Einseinian, but you should still refer to F=MA as Newtonian. Likewise, GNU is still Free Software, and the biggest component of a "Linux" distro is GNU.
    --
    I'm a gnu world man.
  3. Re:That ungrateful SOB Stallman... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If Stallmand did not, he should have!!

  4. Give to OpenBSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A similar aware should go to the OpenBSD project.

    1. Re:Give to OpenBSD by drivers · · Score: 1

      I know it was probably just a troll, but I'll bite. The award was given for support of the Linux community. Are you saying that the OpenBSD project should be given an award for support of the Linux community? Or are you saying that the OpenBSD project should give an award to the the Free Software Foundation for support of the OpenBSD project? (OpenBSD includes GNU system software, right?)

  5. No, we should be grateful to him. by Analogue+Kid · · Score: 2

    It's the rest of the 'open source community' who is ungrateful to him. Gnu is the very heart of just about any 'linux' distribution. RMS has been slaving away for about 20 years to make this possible. Those who simply jump on top of his shoulders now that his work is reaching a critical mass ought to be grateful to the FSF... Linus and ESR included.

    Can you really fault a man for not wanting to be edited out of a movement for which he is the very soul?

    --
    I'm a gnu world man.
    1. Re:No, we should be grateful to him. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0



      There was free software before Stallman, and it continues to exist despite him.
      Go tell a BSD contributor that the GPL is "at the heart of it all" and he'll check your temperature.

    2. Re:No, we should be grateful to him. by Maciej+Stachowiak · · Score: 1

      Even the free BSD operating systems owe Stallman.
      In anticipation of the expected rant that it would not be that hard to replace the GNU toolchain with a BSD-licensed one, well, I'll believe it when I see it.

      Would BSD be nearly as widely ported as it is if it weren't for the fact that GCC has been ported to nearly every CPU in existence, and is well-designed enough to be easy to port to others?

      Heck, I am sure they will all be happy to take credit for the performance improvements when the NEW_IA32 code gets merged into mainline gcc, resulting in just about the best x86 code generation the state of the art can buy, too.

  6. It will be eventually by ClipDude · · Score: 1

    Unfortunately, someone is going to violate the GPL eventually. If the GPL were tested in court and upheld, many people would be reassured. In fact, it might actually be better if this happened sooner rather than later, so if the GPL is legally flawed in some way (let's hope not), the licence can be modified accordingly for future programs.

    --

    The DMCA--for corporations, the best copyright law money can buy.
  7. Re:Ouch. by bromoseltzer · · Score: 1

    Yes, Stallman should be giving an award to Linus for contributions to GNU. :-)

    --
    Fiat Lux.
  8. Re:Spend the $$$ on glibc! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What's wrong with glibc?

  9. Re:Ouch. by Azul · · Score: 1

    What are those opinions you talk about?

    Alejo.

  10. Re:stall man by Azul · · Score: 1

    100% agreed.

    Way to go, FSF! Thanks for all you've done!

    Alejo.

  11. Edison and Tesla by hanway · · Score: 1
    It was either Edison or Tesla who refused to accept an award named for the other because it implicitly honored the guy named in the award more than the "winner." (Or so I've heard. Maybe it's apocryphal.)

    I mention that only because I wonder how RMS feels about receiving the "Linus Torvalds" award. He should turn around and give Linus the "FSF/Richard M. Stallman" award for contributing to the ideals of Free Software.

  12. Mo' Money! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    (First post?)


    This is good news! Now if I could just get paid full time to code open source stuff...ahh, this is the stuff that dreams are made of!

  13. What's with Slashdot? by Romen · · Score: 1

    What is with the main page? It doesn't display any articles since yesterday afternoon, not even in the slashboxen. I had to search to even find the new articles, like this one. What gives?

    --
    Sam TH
    AbiWord Developer
    1. Re:What's with Slashdot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lucky! You can still get into your account! I was messing with my preferences at the time, and I think slash messed something up.

      Anway here's my theory: Rob changed some code and accidentally broke something. What he was messing with that did it, I don't know. I'm just happy we can still post. Having only one page on the entire site screw up is pretty darn good, really.

      ufdraco-who-can't-log-in

    2. Re:What's with Slashdot? by Romen · · Score: 1

      I don't know what could be happening, but it's been updated -but not all the way. It's way behind on the numbers of comments. Beats the hell out of me.

      --
      Sam TH
      AbiWord Developer
    3. Re:What's with Slashdot? by Jburkholder · · Score: 1

      Hmm, I don't even see number of comments at all for stories that were posted after things went screwey (right before the space spam story).

      Something is b0rked

    4. Re:What's with Slashdot? by N1KO · · Score: 1

      I think its not refreshing the number of comments.

    5. Re:What's with Slashdot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      It isn't refreshing the stories either. Until about 9 am EDT this morning, it was still stuck on the Spam to space article, even though there were about 4 new posts. Even now, if you go to the search page, there is at least 1 new story that isn't on the main page.

      ufdraco-who-can't-log-in

  14. Re:That ungrateful SOB Stallman... by EngrBohn · · Score: 2

    !?
    Given how much the FSF has given away, please explain to the rest of us how RMS is ungrateful. I don't agree with all he says, but I'd say he's been rather generous.
    Christopher A. Bohn

    --
    cb
    Oooh! What does this button do!?
  15. That ungrateful SOB Stallman... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...I love what he's done for us but I wonder if he corrected the folks who gave him the award by telling them "No, it's not 'Linux'; it's 'GNU/Linux' or 'Linux-based GNU System'".

  16. slashdot was cracked yesterday by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yesterday some cyber crackers broke into slashdot and really trashed the place. You should have seen the main page then!

    1. Re:slashdot was cracked yesterday by PD · · Score: 1

      I doubt that this is true. I was looking at Slashdot at the time things started screwing up and I didn't see any hacked page. I think it was just one of those programming errors that happen every once in a while.

      --
      If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
  17. Good to see some money flowing... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Even though they're the -FREE- software foundation, I'm sure it takes a lot more money to keep it running than one would think. Although I bet that $25,000 goes a long way ;)

    If my biz takes off I will owe everything to free software... My costs would skyrocket 100%, maybe more, if I was stuck with MS cruddage. Right now my only costs are hardware and infrastructure. In fact I don't think I'd be able to do it.

    Neat...

  18. Ouch. by T.E.D. · · Score: 1

    Not that he won't accept it. But given Stallman's known opinions on Linux, getting an award for "supporting the Linux community" has to be like getting slapped in the face with a stack of twenties.

    1. Re:Ouch. by rjk · · Score: 1

      And these "known opinions" you think he holds would be...?

      AIUI he uses Linux himself, and my impression that he has nothing against it. Possibly you're referring to the naming controversy; but anyone with two brain cells to rub together can see that one's opinions about the name of a thing can be quite separate from any other opinions about it.

  19. Congrats, FSF by Ben+Smith · · Score: 1

    The FSF is the soul of the Linux/Hacker community. Whether you want to admit it or not, Stallman's spirit and ideology is what fuels the engine of the free/open-source community.

    And one of these days (hopefully later than sooner) when the GPL is tested in court, we're going to have to through alot of support behind these guys in order to ensure that our code is kep t free.

    --
    -Ben
    bensmith@biz1.net
    1. Re:Congrats, FSF by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "The FSF is the soul of the Linux/Hacker community"? Don't be so insulting. There's more free software than GNU free stuff anyway. Please don't insult the rest heros.

  20. Re:Can I stop kissing his feet yet? by Arandir · · Score: 1

    I was using GNU tools years before the Linux kernel was even started. I was grateful for them then, and I'm grateful for them now. But at some point I'm going to have to stop fawning over the superhuman greatness that is Richard Stallman and get on with my own life.

    Modern physics would be nothing yet for the tireless work of last century's physicists. Does this mean I have to refer to Newtonian/Einsteinian physics? My computer would be nothing without it's motherboard, so do I have to refer to it as my FEC/AMD?

    The whole of this operating system is greater than the sum of it's parts. The GNU project laid down some logs, as did X and BSD, then Linus Torvalds came along with a spark and the whole thing became a bonfire. So do we call it "log"? Sure, "spark" isn't an accurate word either, but neither is "log/spark".

    However much Richard may want it otherwise, the movement is not his.

    For the record, Linus Torvalds and Eric Raymond ARE VERY GRATEFUL to Richard Stallman. But you don't have to abandon all of your religious, political and philosophical beliefs just to say "thank you", and you don't have to continually kiss someone's feet to show gratitude.

    --
    A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
  21. Spend the $$$ on glibc! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The libc maintenance is a disaster. Balls are being dropped LR&C.

    RMS should spend the cash on more maintainers. Or new ones.

  22. DO by Jonas+�berg · · Score: 2

    While this award is for the Free Software Foundation in general, I'd like to make it a special point to congratulate all the people who have worked and is working in the FSF Distribution Office in Boston.
    Without their hard and dedicated work, we wouldn't have gotten nearly as far as we have.

  23. GPL Tested in Court by EngrBohn · · Score: 2

    Frankly, I'd rather not see GPL tested in court, since that would require first that somebody attempt to violate the GPL.
    Christopher A. Bohn

    --
    cb
    Oooh! What does this button do!?
  24. This URL works by rueba · · Score: 1

    If you came late like me, this URL might work better:
    http://www.businesswire.com/webbox/bw.080399/192 151553.htm

    --
    The only reason all cover-ups appear to fail is that you never hear about the ones that succeed.
  25. Backwards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hehehe. Stallman receives the Torvalds award. Shouldn't that be the other way around? Oh well. Either way, it's a good deal.

  26. Congratulations by Sendy · · Score: 1

    I congratulate the FSF and Richard Stallman, They are the founders of the free software spirit which is The-Way-To-Go.

    Wish you well
    Sendy

    --
    GNU guru and mainframe hacker
  27. stall man by joshua_doesnt_know · · Score: 1

    After what the FSF has done for us, I think they deserve whatever they can get!