NYC LOCAL: Wednesday 10 July 2002 GNUbies

This month there is a special talk. We are honored to have Bradley Kuhn,
Executive Director of the Free Software Foundation (http://www.fsf.org)
coming to New York to speak to the GNUbies group this Wednesday, July 10,
2002. He was invited to come to speak to GNUbies after he gave an
excellent talk at the last LinuxWorld and he has been kind enough find time
in his hectic schedule to make the difficult round-trip from Boston by
train to speak to us this Wednesday. Below are details, a bio, and some
information about the talk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wednesday, July 10, 2002

   6:30-7:00    General Questions & Answers

   7:00         Bradley M. Kuhn
                Executive Director of the Free Software Foundation

   on           Software Freedom and the GNU Generation

   at           The IBM Building
                590 Madison Ave.
                (57th Street and Madison Avenue)
                **note security procedures below

After the meeting those interested can join us to go out to eat or drink
and continue discussions.

At this meeting there will also be some gifts/swag from IBM on a first
come first serve basis.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As always, the most up-to-date information can be found on our website at:

http://www.gnubies.org

All of our meetings are free and open to the public (although subject to
the security procedures mentioned below).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bio:

Bradley M. Kuhn is a supporter of the Free Software Movement: a movement
that creates software that can be freely copied, shared, modified, and
redistributed, and that brought the popular GNU/Linux operating system into
existance.  Mr. Kuhn writes, teaches about and documents Free Software and
advocates the importance of software freedom.  He began working with the
Free Software Foundation and the GNU project as a volunteer in the
mid-1990s.  In February 2001, he was hired full-time as Vice President of
the FSF, and was officially named Executive Director in March 2002.  When
not putting in overtime for his official duties, Mr. Kuhn contributes to
GNU software as a volunteer by hacking on various Free Software programs
and Free Documentation.

Mr. Kuhn holds a summa cum laude B.S. in Computer Science from Loyola
College in Maryland, and an M.S. in Computer Science from University of
Cincinnati.  Before working full-time for the FSF, he worked as a Free
Software consultant in the technology industry.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About the talk:
                 Software Freedom and the GNU Generation
                 ---------------------------------------

In this talk, I introduce the issues of software freedom, copyleft, and the
history and future of the Free Software Movement to an audience that is
generally familiar with computer software.  (The talk is geared toward
computer users, but developers will not be bored.)  I discuss in detail the
most popular copyleft license, the GNU General Public License (GPL), and
introduce its advantages for users, programmers, and businesses.

In contrast to the talks given by the Free Software supporters who founded
the community (such as Richard Stallman), this talk comes from the
perspective of someone who came of age in the Free Software Movement after
the early work was complete.  Thus, this talk addresses the "GNU generation",
those of us who learned of Free Software only after GNU/Linux
systems were beginning to become popular.

In particular, I address the stark contrast of two existing worlds in the
software industry: the developers of proprietary software and the
developers of Free Software.  As someone who has lived in both of these
worlds, I speak with some authority about the terrible challenges and
drawbacks faced in the proprietary software realm, and how the free
software community has overcome them by giving the same freedom to all
users, whether they program often, occasionally, or not at all.  I explain
how one specific copyleft software license, the GNU GPL, has worked to
ensure freedom while creating a thriving user, developer and business
community.

Finally, I discuss the great challenges that we, the Free Software
Movement, face in the years ahead.  Too often, people assume that since the
job of writing a core operating system is done (namely, GNU/Linux and
emerging GNU/HURD systems) that there is nothing left for the Free Software
Movement to do.  I dispel this misconception by giving real-world examples
where we face challenges today.  I also identify dangerous trends that
indicate challenges that we may face in the future.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Security Procedures:
--------------------
Since Sept 11, 2001 IBM has implemented new security measures for those
attending meetings in their building.  It is necessary to to bring a
picture ID to show upon entering the building, and to send your name (as
it appears on the ID) in advance in order to attend.  You can use the link
from our website (http//www.gnubies.org) or send email to
lo+gnubies@eskimo.com (note that is a plus sign not the letter t) with
the Subject "July 2002 GNUBIES" and your name as to body of the message.

Please submit your name even if you are on the "cumulative list".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We are grateful to IBM for providing this space.

We look forward to seeing you at the meeting.

Lyn
GNUBIES
The GNU/Linux/Free OS Beginners' Group




Distributed poC TINC:

Jay Sulzberger 
Corresponding Secretary LXNY
LXNY is New York's Free Computing Organization.
http://www.lxny.org