I very much enjoyed the Revolution OS documentary we watched last night.
I had never seen or heard Richard Stallman speak before (even thought I
have read much of his website and various other writings) and it was a
real joy to see the man behind the ideas in living color (so to speak.)
I also enjoyed seeing and hearing Bruce Perens, another individual who's
writings ("The Debian Social Contract" and "The Open Source Definition")
greatly impress me.
I had already seen and heard Linus Torvalds speak (I've even met him in
person.)
Something that struck me while watching the film was how all these big
shots (in Silicon Valley and elsewhere) with lots of money and fantastic
educations, working at giant corporations, and with impressive titles
could not figure out how to make progress in their field (computer and
software technology) because of the limiting factor of ideas in their
heads, predominantly greed (the desire to make money above any and all
other considerations) whereas a few college kids and radicals blew the
thing wide open (to real innovation) because they believed in the power
of ideas and ideals (especially the idea of open source and the ideal
of freedom) to change the world.
This demonstrated for me once again the amazing powers of creativity
inherent in human beings once their minds are set free from the tyranny
of fear, doubt, and selfishness. I feel a strong camaraderie with these
pioneers of the free software movement and wish to join them in spirit
by dedicating my own life to the liberation and empowerment of humanity.
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