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Call for nominations for the 2006 FSF Award for the Advancement of Free Software

[Posted August 8, 2006 by ris]

From:  John Sullivan <johns-AT-fsf.org>
To:  info-press-AT-gnu.org
Subject:  [GNU/FSF Press] Call for nominations for the 2006 FSF Award for the Advancement of Free Software
Date:  Tue, 08 Aug 2006 17:59:01 -0400


Nominations are requested by 31 October 2006.

BOSTON, August 8, 2006 -- The Free Software Foundation (FSF) and the GNU
Project announce the request for nominations for the 2006 Award for the
Advancement of Free Software. This annual award is presented to a person
who has made a great contribution to the progress and development of
free software, through activities that accord with the spirit of
software freedom (as defined in the Free Software Definition). 

Last year's winner Andrew Tridgell was recognized for his work as
originator and developer of the Samba project, and for his
contributions to the Linux kernel. Tridgell joined a prestigious list
of previous winners including Theo de Raadt, Alan Cox, Miguel de
Icaza, Larry Lessig, Brian Paul, Guido van Rossum, and Larry Wall.

Any kind of activity could be eligible for the award -- writing
software, writing documentation, publishing software, journalism -- but
whatever the activity, we want to recognize long-term central
contributions to the development of the world of software freedom.
"Accord with the spirit" means, for example, that software, manuals, or
collections of them (online or on CD), must be entirely free. Work done
commercially is eligible, but we give this award to individuals, not to
companies, organizations, or teams. 

Previous winners of this award are not eligible for nomination, but
renomination of other previous nominees is encouraged. From those who are
eligible, the award committee will try to choose the person who has made the
greatest contribution.

The 2005 award committee was composed of: Peter H. Salus (chair), Richard
Stallman, Alan Cox (winner 2003), Lawrence Lessig (winner 2002), Guido van
Rossum (winner 2001), Frederic Couchet, Jonas Oberg, Hong Feng, Bruce Perens,
Raju Mathur, Suresh Ramasubramanian, Enrique A. Chaparro, and Ian Murdock.

Please send your nominations to award-nominations@gnu.org, on or before Monday
31 October 2006. Please submit nominations in the following format:

  - Put the name of the person you are nominating in the email message
    subject line.
  - Please include, in the body of your message, an explanation (40
    lines or less) of the work the person has done and why you think
    it is especially important to software freedom.
  - Please state, in the body of your message, where to find the
    materials (e.g., software, manuals, or writing) which your
    nomination is based on.

Information about the previous awards can be found at
http://www.fsf.org/fs-award.
 
*** About The Free Software Foundation

The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting
computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer
programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom)
software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants --
and free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread
awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of
software. Their Web site, located at http://www.fsf.org, is an important source
of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support their work can be made at
http://donate.fsf.org. Their headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.

-- 
John Sullivan
Program Administrator        | Phone: (617)542-5942 x23    
51 Franklin Street, 5th Fl.  | Fax:   (617)542-2652	
Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA    | GPG:   AE8600B6


_______________________________________________
FSF And GNU Press mailing list <info-press@gnu.org>
http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-press

to post comments

Correct link to previous awards Software

Posted Aug 9, 2006 1:18 UTC (Wed) by Max.Hyre (subscriber, #1054) [Link] (7 responses)

http://www.gnu.org/award/

link to the Wikipedia article Software

Posted Aug 9, 2006 14:11 UTC (Wed) by coriordan (guest, #7544) [Link]

The Wikipedia article on this award is quite detailed: Award_for_the_Advancement_of_Free_Software

Correct link to previous awards Software

Posted Aug 9, 2006 15:02 UTC (Wed) by proski (guest, #104) [Link] (5 responses)

Link for year 2006 nominations: http://www.fsf.org/news/fs-award-2006.html

It looks like Linus is eligible this year. I think he deserves the award, not only for Linux, but also for git.

previous winners of other awards not eligible Software

Posted Aug 9, 2006 18:15 UTC (Wed) by coriordan (guest, #7544) [Link] (4 responses)

I'm sure you're joking, but people who have won similar awards are not eligible anyway. http://www.gnu.org/gnu/award.html: People such as Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds, who have already received other awards for their contributions, were not eligible for the Free Software Award"

previous winners of other awards not eligible Software

Posted Aug 9, 2006 19:51 UTC (Wed) by proski (guest, #104) [Link] (3 responses)

I wasn't joking. Compare http://www.fsf.org/news/fs-award-2005.html to http://www.fsf.org/news/fs-award-2006.html - only the former mentions Linus. But you are right, I wasn't aware of your link. It looks like the FSF site need to be better organized.

remember to subtract Software

Posted Aug 9, 2006 20:24 UTC (Wed) by coriordan (guest, #7544) [Link] (2 responses)

Linus's software contributions are nice, but his public statements make the free software community's work really difficult.

His public endorsements of proprietary software such as bitkeeper are one obvious example.

His incorrect statement to Forbes that GPLv3 prohibits you from using GnuPG to encrypt your diary, and his incorrect statement to CNet that the GPLv3 discussion committees feel that FSF ignored their input (a claim which the discussion committees say is wrong) make constructive dialogue difficult.

It also doesn't help that he takes these comments straight to the media (with full knowledge that they will print every word he says without checking) instead of to the public comment system at gplv3.fsf.org

No, I don't think Linus will win any credible free software awards this year. It's a pity that the public generally thinks he wrote the whole operating system. His public statements are a reason why it's important to inform people that the operating system is GNU with the Linux kernel: GNU/Linux.

remember to subtract Software

Posted Aug 9, 2006 21:48 UTC (Wed) by proski (guest, #104) [Link] (1 responses)

I don't know if you worked with Linus on any software, but I think he is just provocative. He is a nice guy (at least compared to the year 2004 nominee Theo de Raadt), he just wants to energize others a bit.
It also doesn't help that he takes these comments straight to the media (with full knowledge that they will print every word he says without checking)
The media printed SCO claims without checking. Enough said.

Anyway, this discussion is getting too theoretical.

remember to subtract Software

Posted Aug 9, 2006 22:20 UTC (Wed) by coriordan (guest, #7544) [Link]

GPLv3 has many provocative aspects that he could have raised legitimate discussion about in the media instead.

I understand why SCO spreads FUD - it's their business model. Why Linus says what he says - is a mystery to me.


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