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438 lines
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<title>rms @ UBC LG #47</title>
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<H4>
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"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
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</H4>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<center>
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<H1><font color="maroon">rms @ UBC</font></H1>
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<H4>By <a href="mailto:ehayashi@beluga.phys.uvic.ca">Eric Hayashi</a></H4>
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</center>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<p>
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<dl>
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<h3>Table of Contents</h3>
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<dl>
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<dt><a href="#introduction">Introduction</a></dt>
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<dt><A href="#thursday">Thursday morning</a></dt>
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<dt><a href="#stallman">Stallman</a></dt>
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<dt><a href="#oreilly">O'Reilly</a></dt>
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<dt><a href="#conclusion">Conclusion</a></dt>
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</dl>
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</dl>
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<BR CLEAR=all>
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<hr>
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<p>
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<img src="gx/hayashi/poster_sml.png" ALIGN=right VALIGN=top BORDER=1>
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<a name="introduction"><h3>Introduction</h3></a>
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Inspired by the informative and entertaining write-ups of <a
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href="http://ssadler.phy.bnl.gov/~adler/adler">Stephen Adler</a>, most
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relevantly "<a
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href="http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue37/adler.html">An Ode to
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Richard Stallman</a>" (<I>LG</I> #37) I
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recently took it upon myself to document Stallman's foray into the
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Great White North. First a brief introduction. I'm relatively new to
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Linux - primarily a Windows and Unix user until about a year ago
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thanks to the Linux box that I started using as a graduate student in
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astronomy at the <a
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href="http://astrowww.phys.uvic.ca/nindex1.html">University of
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Victoria</a>. Since then I've been using Linux every day (and loving it!), while
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developing a budding interest in the history of Linux and the free
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software movement.
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<p>
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About a month ago, while checking out the <a
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href="http://www.vlug.org">VLUG</a> links page I happen to stumble
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across the <a href="http://www.linux.bc.ca/">linux.bc.ca</a> website.
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Just in time as it turns out, since Richard Stallman is scheduled to
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talk on "Freedomware: The GNU/Linux System and the Free Software
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Movement" in Vancouver at the <a href="http://www.ubc.ca">University
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of British Columbia</a> on Thursday, September 23. As an added bonus, Tim
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O'Reilly is speaking on Friday, so if I stay I'm thinking I'll get the
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full spectrum of opinions on free software and documentation. Flash
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forward to...
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<BR CLEAR=all>
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<hr>
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<a name="thursday"><h3>...Thursday morning</h3></a>
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In typical Hayashi fashion, I've managed to make things interesting
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from the get-go by sleeping in by an hour. Unfortunately, the life of
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an astronomy grad student has done nothing to improve my
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predisposition towards getting up on time. Oh well, it's not the end
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of the world: I'll just have to take the 12:00 noon ferry to the
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mainland instead of the 11:00 as I'd planned. This still gives me
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about two hours to get from the ferry terminal to UBC. Plenty of
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time, but I decide to play it safe and take the coach that runs
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directly from downtown Victoria, via the ferry, to downtown
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Vancouver. Twice as expensive as public transit, but faster and half
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as stressful since you don't have to worry about bus schedules,
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transfers, correct change, etc. My anxiety level drops by half once
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I'm in the lineup to board the coach with ticket in hand.
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<p>
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I start thinking ahead to Stallman's lecture this afternoon. I'm
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pretty excited about going to see the man behind GNU, not to mention Emacs,
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the greatest editor of all-time, ever. Maybe I'll even get to
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meet the man afterwards... Ulp! From what I've read rms can be a
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somewhat intimidating fellow. I can just imagine myself saying
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something foolish to draw his ire. "GNU/Linux," I start repeating to
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myself. "Not just `Linux,' `GNU/Linux'"!
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<p>
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<img src="gx/hayashi/pic-queen_of_saanich_sml.jpg" align="left" hspace=10 vspace=2> Pretty
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soon the bus is parked onboard the ferry and we're shuffled up to the passenger
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decks. Normally I'm not a big fan of the ferry ride between Vancouver and
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Victoria. Usually I'm traveling alone and just want to read or sleep but can
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never find a quiet place to do either. There's always someone nearby talking
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just loud enough to be a <img src="gx/hayashi/gulf1_sml.jpg" align="right" hspace=10
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vspace=10> distraction. This time around it isn't that bad, though. I think the
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key is to spend as much time as possible outside on deck. The morning clouds
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are starting to burn off and the Gulf Islands can look quite spectacular under
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a little sunshine. I sit down on a bench, eat a couple sandwiches and snap some
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pics. Life is good.
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<p>
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<img src="gx/hayashi/clouds1_sml.jpg" align="left"
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hspace=10 vspace=5> The ferry hits land at about 1:40 and the
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coach drops me off at Cambie and Broadway at 2:30 with plenty of time
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to spare. I hop on the 99 B-line express that goes west to the
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university. So there I am standing near the back, minding my own
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business when I overhear the words "Red Hat" and "Debian" in a
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conversation behind me. There's an empty seat next to one of the guys
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talking so I grab it and ask if they're going to the Stallman
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lecture. Turns out they are - they're comp sci students from nearby
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<a href="http://www.sfu.ca">Simon Fraser University</a> (SFU). One
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guy's got a 3 1/2'' floppy in his hand - hoping for an autograph
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perhaps? He says it's a Linux boot disk with nethack on it. They seem
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like pretty cool hacker-types and we end up chatting for the rest of
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the bus ride.
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<p>
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We get off at UBC and after wandering around campus for a while we
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finally arrive at Woodward IRC lecture hall 2. It's still fairly early
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yet - there's only a handful of people scattered about the lecture
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hall. We grab some centre seats about a dozen rows back. One of the
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guys, Ryan, whips out a laptop, fires up Debian, and starts an
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X-window session with fvwm as the window manager. (Later we watch in
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horror as a guy near the front starts up Windows on his own laptop
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("wanker"!)). They start playing some game with flying triangles
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("bratwurst"?) and a command-line syntax that looks Lisp-like. After a
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little hacking one of the guys gets a triangle to rotate. Cool!
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<p>
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Finally we catch our first glimpse of Stallman. He looks a lot less
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imposing than I'd imagined him. (In my mind I'd pictured an immense
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being with limbs like redwoods and a voice like thunder.) Despite his
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reputation, I find later that he's surprisingly easy to talk to and
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generally quite gracious, especially to people asking very basic
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questions about GNU. He's constantly fiddling with his hair when he's
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answering a question (looks like he's checking for loose ends) but as
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long as you have something interesting to say, you have his full
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attention.
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<p>
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<hr>
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<p>
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<center>
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<img src="gx/hayashi/stall1_sml.jpg">
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</center>
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<p>
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<a name="stallman"><h3>Stallman</h3></a>
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The lecture gets underway, and I start scribbling. (Unlike Stephen
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Adler, I'm forced to take notes the old fashioned way, with pen and
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paper. On the bright side, I don't have to worry about spilling coffee
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on my non-existent laptop.) Dr. Rabab Ward, director of the <a
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href="http://www.cicsr.ubc.ca">Center for Integrated Computer Systems
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Research</a> (co-sponsors of the event along with <a
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href="http://www.vanlug.bc.ca/index.html">VanLUG</a>) introduces
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comp sci prof Ed Casas who starts telling us about rms until Stallman
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complains "You're giving my whole speech!" Thus, the introduction gets
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cut short and at last rms steps up to the podium.
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<p>
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The first half of his talk is a retelling of the <a
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href="http://www.gnu.org/gnu/thegnuproject.html">history of the GNU
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Project</a> that appears on the GNU website, so I won't bother with a
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detailed recap. (A complete transcript of my notes appears <a
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href="misc/hayashi/stallman.txt">here</a>.) Even though it was a familiar tale (for
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me anyway) it was cool to hear it from the man himself. Along the way
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he extolled the virtues of living cheaply and not being "a slave of a
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desperate need for money" with expensive habits like "stamps, art, and
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children!" I guess we won't be seeing any little Stallmans running
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around anytime soon... He went on to say that as president of the <a
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href="http://www.gnu.org/fsf/fsf.html">Free Software Foundation</a>
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(FSF), he decided not to take a cut of the money
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raised by FSF, since paying himself would be "like throwing money
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away, because we can get Stallman to work for nothing." So if we like
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the software he has helped to develop, we could either donate money to
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FSF or to Stallman himself. Hmm...
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<p>
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In explaining the <a
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href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">four freedoms</a>
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which define free software, he compared new measures being adopted
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by the US government to deter prohibited copying to those employed by
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the Russian establishment, and went on to conclude that "nothing but
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a police state can possibly stamp out freedom 2 [the freedom to
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redistribute copies so you can help your neighbour]." After describing
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freedom 3, the freedom to publish an improved version of a program, he
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mentioned that the <a href="http://www.opensource.org">Open Source
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Initiative</a> (OSI) promotes free software by concentrating solely on
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the benefits of freedom 3. Stallman believes that in doing
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this OSI is leaving out the most important things GNU has to say, and
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that, while GNU and OSI are allies with respect to software
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development, they remain "rivals in the domain of philosophical
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debate." He also talked about how software can be free for some users
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and not others, using the licensing of the X Window System as an
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example (see "<a
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href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/x.html">The X Windows trap</a>").
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<p>
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He devoted the last part of his talk to issues which must be addressed
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in order to ensure the continued existence of a free OS five years
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down the road. First up: the problem of hardware products whose
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specifications are kept secret by their manufacturers and that can only
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be operated via proprietary software. The solution to this problem is
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twofold: 1) discourage people from purchasing hardware that is not
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supported by free software, and 2) reverse engineer the non-free
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drivers and write free ones. Secondly, he talked about the pitfall
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represented by using non-free libraries as a basis for free software
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development. The obvious example of this is the <a
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href="http://www.troll.no/products/qt.html">Qt GUI toolkit</a> used by
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<a href="http://www.kde.org">KDE</a>. GNU is
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attacking this problem by developing the <a
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href="http://www.gnome.org">GNOME</a> desktop environment, as well as
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the FreeQT toolkit <a
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href="http://www.gnu.org/software/harmony/harmony.html">Harmony</a>.
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Again, Stallman stressed that it is easy to stay out of this trap if
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you recognize it as an issue. Finally, he made brief mention of the
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dangers posed by patents, and the patenting of software features and
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algorithms (e.g. the <a
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href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/gif.html">GIF patent</a> held by
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UNISYS).
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<p>
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Stallman concluded the lecture by arguing that the Linux community and
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the Open Source movement endanger the future of free software by
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failing to recognize the value of the freedom it affords. He cited
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ads for proprietary software in Linux magazines as an example
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of encouraging users to give up the freedom they've won by using a free
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OS. In promoting the name `GNU-slash-Linux' over simply `Linux', his aim
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is to not only give credit to the authors of the GNU software which
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makes Linux possible, but also to raise awareness of the
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philosophy of the GNU Project, perhaps causing users to think about the
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value of freedom and maybe even inspiring them to defend the free software
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community when it is endangered.
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<p>
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With that, Stallman opened the floor to questions, the first one being
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whether he considers any circumstance legitimate justification to
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write or sell proprietary software. Stallman answered with a succinct
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"no," but pointed out that 90% of the software industry is about
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developing custom software ("people don't load sloughware into a
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microwave"). A guy sitting in front of me asked how programmers
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would get paid if all software were free. Stallman said that getting
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paid should be considered secondary to the more important issue of
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"will people have freedom?" Once that is taken care of, programmers
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can find new ways to earn a living, e.g. get paid to write free
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software by companies like Red Hat, or sell
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copies/support/documentation for free software like GNU.
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<p>
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Someone posed the fundamental question, "Is it ethical to redistribute
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something that you're not allowed to redistribute?" Stallman replied
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simply that the lesser of the two evils is to share with your
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friend. The audience responded with a thunderous ovation. He went on
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to say that there is a "war against journals" currently being waged in
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academia. To fight scientific journals that claim sole rights to the
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articles they publish, Stallman urged us to include the statement
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"Permission is granted for verbatim copying of this work" on any
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articles we submit for publication.
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<p>
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At this point Stallman took an extended break to sell GNU manuals,
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give away stickers, and talk one-on-one with audience members. Of the
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audience of about 200 people, dozens purchased Emacs and Make manuals
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which rms patiently signed with his customary "Happy Hacking." (He was
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noticeably quick to point out the "cheapskates" who asked for
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signatures on the free FSF brochures that were also being
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distributed.) This was followed by a final Q & A for the thirty or
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forty hardcore hackers who had stuck around.
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<p>
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Someone made a comment about linking closed source objects into
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Linux. Stallman said that Linus made a big mistake when he allowed
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this to happen. There was a brief discussion of the "Look and Feel"
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lawsuit which apparently resulted in a tie vote in the US Supreme
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Court. Since then, industry seems to have lost interest in pursuing
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it. Stallman, of course, was opposed to the idea of copyrighting an
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interface. Someone asked the obligatory question about the state of
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the GNU Hurd. He claimed that there is a working version, but that they
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haven't yet taken full advantage of the architecture, and that no one
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is currently working on it full-time. (Seems like the perfect
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opportunity for a comp sci PhD thesis.) Near the end, a
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sincere-sounding chap thanked rms for Emacs, and said that, in the
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80's, he used to spend a lot of time staring at an Emacs
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window. Stallman countered, "Does that mean you don't anymore? Emacs
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misses you. Emacs needs you!" Hee-hee! Great stuff!
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<p>
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It's after 6:30 by this time and I'm getting hungry, not to mention I
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was supposed to meet the friends I'm staying with at 6:00 (sorry
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Trish!). Still, I'm hoping to work up the nerve to talk to Stallman and
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maybe get a picture with him. Just when I'm thinking of taking off,
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the questions die out and Stallman wraps up the Q & A. Some more
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people are getting him to sign manuals, so I wait for an opening and
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ask him if I could make a personal donation to him and not the FSF in
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appreciation for creating GNU Emacs. He agrees (!) so I whip out $20
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and get Ryan to take a couple pictures of this historic
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transaction. Woo-hoo! My trip is now officially a success! I quickly
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say goodbye to the guys from SFU and dash off to meet my friends at the
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bookstore.
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<p>
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<center>
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<img src="gx/hayashi/shake1_sml.jpg">
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</center>
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<p>
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<hr>
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<a name="oreilly"><h3>O'Reilly</h3></a>
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Thanks to the overcrowded Vancouver transit system, I arrive about 15
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minutes into Tim O'Reilly's Friday morning talk on "Linux and Open
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Source Business Models." As it turns out, I don't think I missed
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much. O'Reilly's talk seems to be somewhat disorganized - a series of
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loosely-connected thoughts and stories about the
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software industry (<a href="misc/hayashi/oreilly.txt">here</a> are my
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notes). His main point seems to be that the open source and the web are
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revolutionizing the software business (newsflash!) but when someone asks him
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about open sourcing his company's publications, he claims that his hands are
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tied by authors' royalty demands. He goes on to say that he wants to maximize
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the amount of useful information his books provide. Seems to me the best way to
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do that is to allow free access to their contents...
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<img src="gx/hayashi/oreilly1_sml.jpg" align="left" hspace=10 vspace=10>
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<p>
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His words about not thinking in the `old frame' and adapting to the
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'new paradigm' ring hollow considering that O'Reilly & Associates
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continues to follow a traditional print publication business
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model. Why not try something truly innovative like selling online
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access to his books at a reduced price? He ends his talk by imploring
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the audience to use the new era of Internet and open source to "find a
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way for people to want to give you money." Not exactly "Ask not what
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your country can do for you..." as far as inspirational messages
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go... Afterwards a VanLUG guy mentions that it's O'Reilly day at the
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University Bookstore (20% off all O'Reilly books), and O'Reilly plugs
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a new book of UserFriendly cartoons that's coming out soon.
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<p>
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Unlike the Stallman lecture, there seems to be much less of a hacker
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presence, somewhat understandably since this was a talk about business
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models. After the moral conviction of Stallman's words yesterday, the
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things O'Reilly had to say about the new frontier in the software
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industry paled in comparison. Freedom is something you can laugh, cry,
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or shake your fist in the air about. And the heart and soul of GNU is
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a belief in helping others. In comparison, the business of making
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money is a cold, logical affair that's not very conducive to exciting
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peoples' passions. After the talk hardly anyone in the audience of
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about 70 or 80 rushes the stage to talk to O'Reilly like they did
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yesterday with rms.
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<p>
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<hr>
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<a name="conclusion"><h3>Conclusion</h3>
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<p>
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When it's all over I shuffle off to the bookstore to check out the
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O'Reilly's. But before I get there I've already made up my mind not to
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buy anything. <em>Stallman got to me</em>. I can't buy another "animal
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book" in good conscience, at least not until I give it some serious
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thought. It's just as well - <u>Dynamic HTML: the Definitive
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Reference</u> is selling for $57. Even with the 20% discount, that's
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more than I'm willing to pay for information that I can probably find
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for free on the web. Granted it might not come in the form of a nicely
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bound softcover that I can peruse whilst sitting on the john... I
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guess that's what Stallman meant yesterday when he was talking about
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sacrificing convenience for freedom. With that thought in mind I hop
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on a bus and start the long journey home...
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<p>
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<b>finis</b>
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<p>
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<H4>Special Thanks to</H4>
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<ul>
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<li>Trish and Jay for putting me up for the night</li>
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<li>Stephen Adler for inspiring me to write this article</li>
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<li>And last but not least, Richard Stallman, whose existence and
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life's work made this experience possible
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</ul>
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<P><EM>
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<H4>Editor's note</H4>
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If you didn't follow the links to Hayashi's notes
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above, they are definitely worth a read. Here are the links again:
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<UL>
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<LI> <A HREF=misc/hayashi/stallman.txt>Richard Stallman's talk</A>
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<LI> <A HREF=misc/hayashi/oreilly.txt>Tim O'Reilley's talk</A>
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</UL>
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</EM>
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<!-- BEGIN copyright ==================================================-->
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<P> <hr> <P>
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<H5 ALIGN=center>
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Copyleft © 1999, Eric Hayashi<BR>
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Published in Issue 47 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, November 1999</H5>
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