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The 2000 Beanies

Category: Most Deserving Open Source Charity 49

Posted by CmdrTaco from the well-there-aren't-that-many-to-choose-from dept.
This one is a bit easier... there really aren't very many charities in the Open Source and Free Software world, but this category is for them. You just have to be a non-profit organization that has contributed to the Open Source (or in this case perhaps Free Software ;) movement.
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Category:Most Deserving Open Source Charity More

Category:Most Deserving Open Source Charity

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  • While RMS and FSF have pissed off more people than any other advocate (including ESR), they have also done a great deal. Their overall effect on open source is probably closer to zero. (I would argue that they are still in the positive, but that's all a matter of degree.)
  • Because they deserve it.

  • FSF (Score:1)

    by Christian ( 1272 )
    Because we wouldn't be here without them.
  • The Agape House [qis.net] in Baltimore City, teaching inner city kids how to use computers. The computer lab is Linux based and was designed by the UMBC Linux Users Group [umbc.edu]. It was mentioned [slashdot.org] on Slashdot a few months ago.

    Agape characterizes the community spirit and has provided a real-world example of how free(beer) software can be implemented with older hardware for an extremely low-cost.

  • The Apache Software Foundation exists to provide organizational, legal, and financial support for the Apache open-source software projects. Formerly known as the Apache Group, the Foundation has been incorporated as a membership-based, not-for-profit corporation in order to ensure that the Apache projects continue to exist beyond the participation of individual volunteers, to enable contributions of intellectual property and funds on a sound basis, and to provide a vehicle for limiting legal exposure while participating in open-source software projects.

    Sounds like a charity to me!

  • Quit stealing my material!

    But seriously... this is especially a good choice, because Apache doesn't necessarily fit into the other categories, and it deserves to win as many things as it can.


  • the Lord knows his words are open source...

    but seriously, do they count as an open source charity? I have downloaded many works off the site [promo.net], so they at least do what they claim to do.
  • Not much is more valuable than open-sourcing the human genome, especially with Celera [celera.com] attempting to patent genes! _Nobody_ should "own" human genetic sequences. The HGP gets my vote for certain.
  • Tough call, personally, I like the work they do, but Apache is so darned appealing too.

    But free books. I'll have to choose encouraging literacy over web servers. Maybe it was my time under the wing of B. Dalton.

  • Jay, you Ignorant Slut (TM :-)

    Hey, that's "you ignorant splut!"...


    You're right about the debating style. I should take the time to be more detailed about it. I should do lots of other things, too, that I don't...

    Even so, I can't help thinking that, had I posted the same style message slamming the NetBSD Foundation as unsuitable to receive this award, it would not have been moderated down three times, and probably not at all. I consider this more evidence that the Most Holy Stallman, Pope of the Only True Free Software Movement (say hallelujah!), is considered untouchable by the vast majority of people on this forum.


    But if you're hooked on karma, you have to be careful how you say what you say.

    I dunno if I'd consider myself hooked on karma, but having one post zap me below the +1 threshold was a bit discouraging. I like to think of Linux people as more hackish than most, and therefore more likely to be accepting of opinions other than their own; being proven wrong time and again wears on the nerves.
    --

  • There's no reason you can't use GPL code in a BSD kernel.

    No, there isn't, if you're willing to have the GPV infect the BSD kernel. The BSD developers aren't, because they want BSD to remain truly free.
    --
  • Of course, doing anything but following the Slashdot sheep in bowing and scraping before the revered RMS has clobbered my karma, as I knew it would...
    --
  • I think its rather irrelevant what the FSF/GNU Project charge for their products since if you're the cheap type you can always pick it up from their ftp or one of their many mirrors.

    Their sales of software is simply a way of raising money to continue the development of more GNU software, which they can later release under the GNU GPL -- for FREE!

    I cant think of a bigger `donation' than the giving out of source code. In that regard the FSF is the largest doner the community has ever seen to date.

    I would think that the Free Software/Open Source communities would have been severely hampered in development without GNU's Compiler tools and all of the basic system tools they have developed..

    My vote for best charity will most likely go to the GNU Project & FSF.

    My 2 cents.
    * proton puts on his asbestos suite...
  • I would just like to draw people's attention to a little charity down here in Australia called Computerbank (see signature for URL :).

    We collect second hand hardware, install Debian GNU/Linux on it, and give it to students, unemployed people, and community groups that could not otherwise affor computers.

    We are particularly keen to help people who are keen to learn genuine computing skills, and to provide net access where it would not otherwise be possible.

    $10 000 would be extremely useful to us, because it would enable us to hire a part-time employee to co-ordinate the work of volunteers and add momentum to our various tasks (such as customising the distribution and preparing training material).

    This posting is obviously propaganda, so take a look at our site and make up your minds for yourselves...
  • VA Linux [valinux.com] offers free space for open source projects at The SourceForge [sourceforge.net]. This should help a lot of open source projects to get better code, more developers, more recognoition and less hazzle. -- Dipl. Inf. (FH) Aaron "Optimizer" Digulla "(to) optimize: Make a program faster by improving the algorithms rather than by buying a faster machine."
  • The EFF did great work last week on the DeCSS fiasco, and deserve praise. Their beginnings (as defenders of Steve Jackson games and other victims of 1990 law enforcement incompetence) are the stuff of legend.

    BUT, they really caved in on encryption and the clipper chip. (Someone, please help me with links to information about this - the EFF public documents claim opposition to Clipper and related technologies, but what the EFF actually did was roll over.)

    The fact that the EFF can be, and have been, bought (or sold out...) is unfortunate. Just take a look at their corporate sponsorship list (it's a who's who of big corporate interests).

    The EFF still has a role to play, but the heavy corporate sponsorship they've accepted means we can't trust them to always make the "right" choices. (Their early public documents: ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub [eff.org]).
  • We ALL know how RMS' wacky antics (like writing the GPL) have singlehandedly ruined such great projects like the linux kernel, GNOME and KDE, gcc, and countless others... oh wait... maybe we have that backwards, just perhaps RMS started the ball rolling and therefore has done more than anyone else to PROMOTE free software. Kindly remove your head from your ass.
  • The FSF does not meet the legal qualifications to be a 501(c)(3) public charity. In fact, it does not qualify for any of the categories of non-profit entities recognized under the Internal Revenue Code.

    The reason for this is that a 501(c)(3), legally, is not allowed to engage in activities which are the same as those normally carried out by for-profit businesses or to compete with them. The explicit purpose of the FSF is to compete with -- in fact, to damage -- for-profit businesses by giving away for free what those businesses sell. This is not a permitted activity.

    --Brett Glas

  • As i see it nobody has done more for free software
    /open source than RMS.

    Some people just don't understand that RMS can't
    compromise his ideals for anything, not even a little. This is his job, he needs to remind everyone of were Free Software is all about.
    This doesn't mean you can't disagree with RMS, or
    that you have to live according to his values.

    It just means that we need to listen to him and
    others (like ESR) and consider if the direction were going is the right direction or that we need to adjust our course. Ofcourse this doesn't mean we need to take RMS course or anybody others.
  • The EFF struck me as good nominees. I'd like to see what you're saying documented better first.

    Isn't it worrying how quickly this category has gained two "anyone but these people" nominations? It doesn't say good things about our community.
    --
  • We all love VA and appreciate what they're doing but bear in mind that as of today they have $8.2 billion dollars of Wall St. capital at their disposal so I don't see the point in donating $10,000 to VA Linux. Think "under-funded". Think charity.
  • http://www.spi-inc.org/


    Funded projects include Debian, GNOME, LSB, and Berlin.

  • It sure sounds like they are not a charitable organization.

    They may not make a profit; that doesn't make them charitable from the IRS' perspective.

  • It's a huge stretch to call the FSF a charity.
    Well, they are, in a legal sense. They are a registered tex-deductable charity.

    Regarding their distribution, think of it as a way of raising fund. Most charities sell stuff at high prices for that purpose. It is often easier to order something, that to give a donation, especielly in larger organizations.

  • Seconded. Michael Hart's been working on PG's etexts since the early 70s, yet it gets amazingly little recognition in the middle of all the open source hype.
  • It's a huge stretch to call the FSF a charity. After all, they proudly proclaim the fact that they sell their own software for higher prices than anyone else (ever looked at the price of "GNU Deluxe?). This is either incredible chutzpah, or an extremely subtle hack.
  • Some people out there need to remind us all that security matters to open source too.
  • Auw... c'mon... What's more valuable than open-sourcing the human race?

    Vote for the Human Genome Project

    -----

  • Of course, doing anything but following the Slashdot sheep in bowing and scraping before the revered RMS has clobbered my karma, as I knew it would...
    Jay, you Ignorant Slut (TM :-), nobody disrespects the gHoly Inquisitiogn! :-)

    It's possible to have a couple hundred points of karma and still state your mind about you know who. I've got an existence proof. :-)

    But you have to be careful not to make quick jabs, or persistent attacks--attractive though this may be. You have to use lots of words and sound reasoning. You have to avoid ad hominem attacks and address the ideas not the people. And you have to appear less religious and more accepting than the disloyal opposition. If you can make your side's position out to be more inclusive, more helpful to more people, this can make a difference.

    Sure, I don't always do that; I'm sure there are a score of counterexamples. And you don't always fail to do it. But if you're hooked on karma, you have to be careful how you say what you say. At some level, this is probably true everywhere, but particularly challenging in fleeting forums like this one.

  • Hey, that's "you ignorant splut!"...
    I know that (I've read it a hundred times a decade ago), but I was hoping you'd get a +1 "informative" for correcting me. :-)

    You might try satire [perl.com]. It seems to work better for me. I've got about seven more of those waiting for the right moment. :-)

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