The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a nonprofit that promotes computer user freedom through free and open source software. Founded in 1985 by Richard M. Stallman, it advocates for users' rights to use, study, modify, and redistribute software without restrictions.
The organization marked four decades of advocacy at its FSF40 celebration event in Boston. The milestone comes as the foundation continues pushing for software freedom in an increasingly digital world where proprietary systems dominate computing devices.
During this, Ian Kelling was named the new FSF president. Being a longtime board member and systems administrator, Ian plans to strengthen the organization's response to emerging problems while bringing more people into the free software movement.
The event also featured discussions with board members and prominent activists from the community. Speakers shared their experiences working on projects like GNU, Debian, Trisquel, and Emacs.
As for the LibrePhone Project, it was announced by Executive Director Zoë Kooyman in the afternoon. This new initiative aims to bring complete computing freedom to mobile devices, addressing a space where users currently have minimal control over their hardware and software (examples include Android and iOS-powered smartphones).
The project is a partnership with Rob Savoye, a veteran developer with decades of free software experience. Rob has contributed to the GNU toolchain since the 1980s and brings deep technical knowledge to tackle the complex challenge of building a freedom-respecting phone.
Speaking about the project, Rob said:
Since mobile phone computing is now so ubiquitous, we're very excited about LibrePhone and think it has the potential to bring software freedom to many more users all over the world.
LibrePhone will focus on creating a fully open mobile platform from the ground up. The goal is developing everything from firmware to the operating system using free software principles, giving users complete control over their mobile computing experience.
💬 This is looking promising. What are your thoughts?
