The atmosphere at the 3rd annual FOSDEM Conference (Free and Open Source Developers’ European Meeting) is pure open source: a vibrant, community-organized and executed event in Brussels, Belgium. Appropriately held at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles, the conference is free to all, though donations are accepted. The conference, the brain child of Raphael Bauduin, started with the modest goal of bringing a few developers together to foster exchange. This year’s event has attracted well over a thousand developers from across Europe, Scandinavia, Asia, North and South America, and beyond. Speakers include John “Maddog” Hall, Richard Stallman, Bruce Momjian, David Axmark, Julian Smart, and many, many other luminaries.
The first day started with a packed auditorium eagerly awaiting talks by John “Maddog” Hall, Executive Director of Linux International, and Richard Stallman, the creator of the GNU Project and the spiritual father of the free software movement.
Maddog’s talk, titled the “History of Free Software,” reminded me how important it is for the elders of any community to pass down their creation story. Lately I’ve met several people, old and young, who are new to open source. Though amazed at the ethos of the movement and the freedoms open source software offers them, they are nonetheless unaware of the hard struggles their predecessors endured to create the world they live in. But Maddog’s talk was not only for new initiates. Having worked at O’Reilly for many years I’ve been steeped in the history and lore of open source. Nevertheless, Maddog’s speech had a binding effect on everyone in the auditorium as we collectively recalled seminal events, the ups and downs and chance developments that culminated in this movement.
Richard Stallman gave a speech titled “The Danger of Software Patents,” the thrust of which was to warn his European brethren of the stultifying world that awaits them if the EC adopts software patent policies like those in the United States. Using logic and moral suasion, Richard carefully explained how software creations are different that the creation of physical objects, and that the methods used to protect patented objects smother the environment software developers work in. His most potent metaphor came late in his speech when he likened the creation of software to the creation of music. “Like musicians,” Richard said, “software developers build upon the ideas of those who came before them. What if European governments, he asked, had allowed the patenting of patterns, melodies, and sequences of symphonic music in the 17th century.” Richard paused and then said, “We wouldn’t have the music of Beethoven today.”
But the most moving speech was given late in the day during the presentation of the Free Software Award. This year’s award did not go to a hacker, to someone working on the next big thing, but to Lawrence Lessig for his work on behalf of intellectual freedom. In his short but fiery acceptance speech, fueled by his recent loss of Eldred vs. Ashcroft before the Supreme Court of the United States, a case so obviously righteous and logical, he told how an attorney for the media conglomerates battling the case came up to him and said “When have morals and ideals ever won against all the money in the world?” Lawrence took in his audience and admitted that never in human history have free ideals won against such odds, but they are, he said, in the world of free and open source software. It was a moving moment, followed by a sustained standing ovation.
When it was over, when the rooms were emptied and the halls were cleared, developers from all over the world filtered out into the cold, damp streets of Brussels, alive, united, and free.
Were you at FOSDEM?
