February 9, 2008

Open Source Stands on GNU's Shoulders

It's nice to see Bruce Perens crediting Richard Stallman with being right about software freedom back in 1983. Stallman might be less than a diplomat, as he promotes his views uncompromisingly, but whatever you think of him persaonlly there's no denying that he is a man of vision.

I bought my first GNU t-shirt at the UK Unix User Group conference in (I think) 1988, and have supported free software and open source ever since. The dinosaurs can't see it but there is a groundswell of change that's growing and will, much sooner than most people anticipate, change the economic and social order of things.

Don't worry, the determined capitalists will find a way to steal it away and use it for their own gain. By the way, happy tenth birthday, OSI.

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