<
https://opensourcewatch.beehiiv.com/p/fossda-preserving-history-opensource-free-software>
"Today, we take for granted that open source is The way to create software. It
wasn't always that way. It wasn't just that people like then Microsoft CEO
Steve Ballmer, considered "Linux is a cancer," many didn't take open source
seriously at all. That was then. This is now. But, we shouldn't forget that
free software and open-source software were revolutionary in their day. The
newly formed Free and Open Source Stories Digital Archive Foundation (FOSSDA)
knows this, so it's seeking to record and archive the stories of the
open-source software pioneers.
FOSSDA is a not-for-profit foundation that aims to engage with the pioneers of
open-source software and share their legacies with the world. The FOSSDA
Project will create digital recordings and archives of the history of the
open-source software movement, documenting the stories of the developers,
visionaries, and strategists who challenged the establishment and changed how
we interact with the world.
It's far from just Linux. Programs such as Apache Web Server, Firefox,
Sendmail, and the many others that make up the Internet backbone are all
open-source.. Today, there are over 50 publicly traded commercial open-source
software companies representing billions in value, And, besides those, there
are the top technology companies such as Amazon, Facebook, Google, and all of
which now run on open-source foundations. Yes, even Microsoft, where Azure now
runs more Linux than Windows.
In particular, the FOSSDA Project hopes to uncover and record the stories of
the first generation of free and open-source software developers. In the
beginning, the movement was started by a group of technical visionaries, such
as Richard M. Stallman, who believed that access to information is fundamental
to human rights in our digital age. These ideas have since transformed software
development, business, and modern society."
Via Steven Vaughan-Nichols, who wrote "It’s been 50 years since free software
was born with the GNU Project and 25 years since the term “open source” was
coined. It’s high time to start recording their history."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
