Ten years ago, I attended the Code conference at Cambridge University.
The conference featured talks by some of most important people in Free Software and Open Source, including Richard Stallman, Bruce Perens and Bob Young.
I attended on behalf of my employer at the time (a London Web Agency) who I persuaded that it would be of benefit to the company for me to keep abreast of these momentous developments in the software industry.
I remember the conference very clearly even now – there was a palpable buzz in the air and a real feeling that a revolution was happening and we were even part of it. I was given a room in one of the Cambridge Colleges and spent three days and nights listening to talks and socialising with the other attendees.
One of the highlights was watching Dr Stallman engage in one of his famous public spats over the differences between ‘Free Software’ and ‘Open Source’. At the time, I just thought he was a bit of an eccentric – it seemed clear to me that the pragmatic ‘Open Source’ argument was compelling for most people and that the word ‘Free’ was just too ambiguous to be really taken seriously, particularly by those in business. So now I’m here to tell you that I was completely and utterly wrong.
Things were very different in 2001. No Facebook, no Twitter, not much ADSL in the UK. Free Software was purely of interest to those involved in technology, one way or the other. The Web of 2001 was indeed booming, but was still a long way from the mainstream penetration we see today.
Fast forward ten years to the Rose Bowl at Leeds Metropolitan University on August 23rd 2011 and Mr Stallman is giving a talk about the digital society.
As he begins his talk, it strikes me that he has been right to focus on ‘free as in freedom’ all along. Pragmatism is useful in business, but does not come close to addressing the very real philosophical and political issues we now see before us. In the last ten years the spheres of personal computing and digital communications have evolved quickly, and now companies like Apple, Facebook and Google hold real power over us and our information.
It struck me how prescient Dr Stallman’s position was back in 2001, and how little the World has listened to him. Perhaps now that more and more people at least have experience of the digital domain his message will gain relevance and find more followers. One thing is for sure – I no longer refer to Open Source Software. It’s Free Software all the way from now on.
Dr Stallman strikes me as a living legend – I think that it will probably only be when he is gone that the the World will realise how great he really was. I hope that he, and his colleagues like Eben Moglen, one day get the recognition they most surely deserve.
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