Ohio LinuxFest 2007 Evening Keynote
Where: Columbus, Ohio (at the Greater Columbus Convention Center)
When: 29 September 2007
Who: Bradley M. Kuhn
Bradley M. Kuhn gave the evening keynote at The Ohio Linux Fest 2007.
Abstract
Over the last decade, Open Source and Free Software finally achieved a new level of mainstream success; it has become an integral part of our technological infrastructure. While this software freedom movement was founded by those who wrote the software, it is defended by the licensing structures and legal systems that were designed to respect, rather than reject, the rights of users. These freedoms — which allow users to copy, share, modify and redistribute that software — created a unique ecosystem that allowed the community to flourish.
In this talk, Kuhn will discuss his ongoing efforts (which he began a decade ago as a graduate student at Ohio’s own University of Cincinnati) to help preserve, protect and promote these freedoms embodied in software freedom licenses like the GPL. Kuhn will outline his past work at the Free Software Foundation in this regard, explain the motivations and ideas that led to the creation and fruition of the Software Freedom Law Center and the Software Freedom Conservancy, and discuss the challenges that lie ahead for defending software freedom.