When the idea of sharing software comes up, people frequently break out in debates over Capitalism vs. Communism. It doesn't take long before someone starts equating - derisively, no less - sharing software with Communism. But since when did the Communists corner the market on sharing?

Lots of goodness has been happening with the Open Document Format. Well, not the format itself, that has been an ISO standard for some time and that kind of implies it gets a bit boring. Fileformats being boring is, much like in governments, a good thing. Boring means stable. And we need a stable Foundation. (bonus points to the people that got the reference ;) )

I believe that at this point there no use anymore in asking the question “Is Linux ready for the desktop?”. It is, and it works so well it’s boring.

On this day, 25 years ago, Richard Stallman created the Free Software Foundation. He had been the director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Artificial Intelligence Lab.

"Seven Swedish Members of Parliament from the Moderate Party have written a stirring call for the legalization of file-sharing..."

The free software movement, which in many respects means the Linux operating system, is a puzzle to those accustomed to paying for things. Software is expensive stuff — how good can the stuff be if it doesn’t cost anything?

"Free" has been a founding concept in the Linux world since before there was Linux — or GNU/Linux, if you prefer. In his history of the GNU project, Richard M. Stallman begins, "When I started working at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab in 1971, I became part of a software-sharing community that had existed for many years.

"FSF's John Sullivan will talk about copyleft, copyright, the War on Sharing, and the GNU/Linux free software operating system at the Connecticut Film Festival." -- via Copyleft and the War on Sharing - Free Software Foundation

Mr. Aravind explains: “Software like art is another mode of creativity.” In art, for instance, improvements made on existing works results in better and finer art, he argues. Why should it not be the same with software? he asks.