“Free Software in Ethics and Practice”

Richard Stallman will speak about the goals and philosophy of the Free Software Movement, and the status and history the GNU operating system, which in combination with the kernel Linux is now used by tens of millions of users world-wide.

“Networking: The Return to Open Source”

The early Internet was built on open-source technologies. All of the code which ran the network was freely available and open to modification by those with the skill and desire to understand it. As time went on and data networks became mainline business requirements, closed-source companies delivered highly functional, well-engineered products to budding network managers. Throughout the Internet’s tornado of growth, closed-source products ruled. Recently, steps have been taken to return the Internet to its open-source roots. This talk will discuss Vyatta’s routing and firewall project and the business model that underpins the company.

“Why Free and Open Source is the Best Model for producing, using and selling software”

Barton George will discuss the value that Free Software brings to a corporation like Sun and how building communities and creating market opportunities go hand in hand. He will discuss Sun’s involvement in various communities such as GNOME, Mozilla, X.org and much else from the GNU/Linux environment. He will also talk about Open Solaris, OpenSPARC and Sun’s recent liberating of the Java platform.