1
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
So, I have to be honest

2
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I'm really honored to be here

3
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I don't say that to just every conference

4
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I care a lot about Debian

5
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
This is my 3rd Debconf I've ever been to

6
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
There have been a lot of them so I obviously haven't been to that many

7
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
But I was at Debconf1

8
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
which I just learned today that it was zero based so that it wasn't the first Debconf

9
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
which I should have known but didn't for some reason

10
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
but so I was at the 2nd Debconf and

11
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
by accident somewhat because I was going to Libre Software meeting

12
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and just happened to book my flights so that I could be at Debconf as well

13
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and because it was in New York city where I was living at the time

14
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I gave a regular track talk at Debconf10 about the GPL v3

15
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and here I'm giving an invited speaker talk

16
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
or a keynote or whatever else it is called here

17
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
That really means a lot to me

18
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I'm a fan of Debian, I'm a user of Debian.

19
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I don't actually consider myself part of the Debian community

20
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
because other than filing a few bugs over the years

21
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I haven't contributed all that much to Debian

22
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
but I've relied on it and used it and been a fan of it for so long

23
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that I really love your project.

24
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
So I am really honored to be invited to speak here

25
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and I really believe that Debian is a very special project

26
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
for a lot of reasons

27
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
First of all it has thrived for longer than almost any free software project in existence

28
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in a lot of ways. There are top 10 lists of projects that Debian is certainly on as far as longevity goes, maybe the top 5

29
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
It's governance is one of the few

30
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
democratically elected and

31
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
democratically controlled

32
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
governance processes in free software

33
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Everyone is a fan of talking about this

34
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
'benevolent dictator' stuff

35
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
which I think is really horrible

36
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The fact that somebody would call

37
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
themselves a 'self appointed benevolent

38
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
dictator for life' is really disturbing.

39
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
You are democratic.

40
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
You elect your leadership.

41
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
You have referendums on major issues

42
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that everyone can vote on.

43
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
That is amazingly rare, impressive

44
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and important for free software.

45
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The other thing that really impresses me,

46
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in particular being somebody from the

47
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
non-profit world,

48
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
is that Debian has been staunchly

49
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
non-commercial for it's entire existence

50
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Of course I don't mean that Debian

51
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
can't be used in commercial settings

52
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
DFSG free means that things can be put

53
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
into commercial products.

54
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
What I mean is the project itself has

55
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
always been non-commercial,

56
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
meaning that the people that work on it

57
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
are volunteering, and even if their

58
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
employers are paying them to work on it

59
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
they are part of a community

60
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and are not doing their work inside Debian

61
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
as officially part of

62
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
some commercial activity.

63
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Most free software projects these days

64
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
are controlled by

65
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
some commercial entity or another.

66
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Debian is not.

67
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I was at Debconf1 which was really

68
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
exciting for me.

69
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I was a young executive director of

70
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Free Software.

71
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I showed this picture to Karen Sandler who

72
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I work with and said how different I look.

73
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
She said I don't look different at all,

74
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
but, speaking as the person that looks

75
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
at that face in the mirror every morning,

76
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
there are a lot more lines on my face

77
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
than there.