-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Fwd: FSF Talk Announcement - Glasgow University - Thursday, May 3rd, 2001, 2pm This will perhaps be of interest to people living in or around Glasgow. Robert J. Chassell, founding Director and former Treasurer of the Free Software Foundation, will be coming to the University of Glasgow on May 3rd to give a talk on free software and why we should use it. Feel free to let me know if you want any more information. Thanks, Steven Murdoch. >Date: Thursday, May 3rd, 2001 >Time: 2pm -> around 3.30pm >Place: Glasgow University, Boyd Orr Lecture Room B (aka 412) > > >Robert J. Chassell will talk on the subject of > > Free software: freedom to study, work, and manufacture > ====================================================== > >What makes software free? What brings freedom to people who use and >work with software? Chassell will discuss these topics and why >freedom leads to software that is more reliable, efficient, and secure >than the alternatives. > >Following this introduction, Chassell will consider the legal and >institutional framework that is needed necessary to preserve freedom. >He will contrast differing differing dispute resolution techniques in >the ancient Roman and the equally ancient Chinese Han empires, and >their consequences on freedom today. > > From ancient history, Chassell will proceed into a more detailed >discussion of the rights and duty associated with free software. He >will explain the `evolutionarily stable strategy' that favors one >license over others. > >Freedom benefits businessmen and their customers, schools and >universities. More importantly, freedom for software brings valuable >ethical consequences: sharing, empowerment, and good governance. > >Chassell, who was originally trained as an economist, will relate >these consequences of freedom to the operations of a competitive, free >market. > >For a change of pace, Chassell will then make a quick digression onto >the various meanings of the word `free' in English: two of which in >Spanish are `gratis' and `libre'. > >This will be followed by a discussion of contemporary history: how did >free software come about? Chassell was a part of the beginning. > >In his penultimate remarks, Chassell will a return to schools and >universities: what do young men shout when they are forbidden to >study? > >Finally, presuming that many young men and women finish university and >join businesses, he will finish with a more detailed discussion of the >advantages of freedom to businesses, and how to make a living with >free software. > > > >Biographical information >------------------------ > >Robert J. Chassell was a founding Director and Treasurer of the Free >Software Foundation, Inc. The FSF was founded to support the GNU >Project which restarted the movement towards free software and open >sources. The GNU/Linux operating system and associated applications >are the outcome of these efforts by the Foundation. > >Chassell writes and edits. He is the author of "Programming in Emacs >Lisp: An Introduction", co-author of the "Texinfo" manual, and an >editor of more than a dozen other books. He graduated from Cambridge >University, in England. He flies his own airplane, and has an abiding >interest in social and economic history. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.4 (GNU/Linux) Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org iD8DBQE60D8qy7aeQyigOIYRApAHAKCV2eMrG2GKxJK1qUYUkFuTC+ENfwCeOITW oFpcp/GLjqeDRFPgsCGzgfc= =ij9/ -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] web: http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~murdocsj/ PGP/GnuPG keys: http://www.bigfoot.com/~sjmurdoch/keys.html -------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.lug.org.uk http://www.linuxportal.co.uk http://www.linuxjob.co.uk http://www.linuxshop.co.uk --------------------------------------------------------------------
