Software Freedom and the GNU Generation --------------------------------------- A talk by Bradley M. Kuhn, Executive Director, Free Software Foundation In this talk, Mr. Kuhn introduces the issues of software freedom, copyleft, and the history and future of the Free Software Movement to an audience that is generally familiar with computer software. (The talk is geared toward computer users, but developers will not be bored.) Kuhn discusses in detail the most popular copyleft license, the GNU General Public License (GPL), and introduce its advantages for users, programmers, and businesses. In contrast to the talks given by the Free Software supporters who founded the community (such as Richard Stallman), this talk comes from the perspective of someone who came of age in the Free Software Movement after the early work was complete. Thus, this talk addresses the "GNU generation" -- those of us who learned of Free Software only after GNU/Linux systems were beginning to become popular. Mr. Kuhn addresses the stark contrast of two existing worlds in the software industry: the developers of proprietary software and the developers of Free Software. As someone who has lived in both of these worlds, Kuhn speak with some authority about the terrible challenges and drawbacks faced in the proprietary software realm, and how the Free Software community has overcome them by giving the same freedom to all users, whether they program often, occasionally, or not at all. He explaines how one specific copyleft software license, the GNU GPL, has worked to ensure freedom while creating a thriving user, developer and business community. Finally, Mr. Kuhn discusses the great challenges that we, the Free Software Movement, face in the years ahead. Too often, people assume that since the job of writing a a Free Software operating system is done that there is nothing left for the Free Software Movement to do. Kuhn dispels this misconception by giving real-world examples where we face challenges today. He also identifies dangerous trends that indicate challenges that we may face in the future. This talk takes approximately two hours, which always leaves at least 25 minutes for a question and answer session. A shorter version of this talk can be given in a one hour time slot with five minutes for questions. That version does includes only a cursory discussion of GNU GPL and does not cover the Movement's future challenges.