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. 78 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 That is a smooth looking baby face that I 79 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 had 14 years ago that I don't have anymore 80 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I was pretty casual back then. 81 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I'm not in short trousers any more. 82 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It's hard to see and 83 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you can see it in some of the other photos 84 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that I was. 85 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Even in this heat I haven't worn short 86 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 trousers in a very long time. 87 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 [bdale heckles] What's that? 88 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Bdale, I was thinking about mentioning you 89 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and now I have to because you are heckling 90 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 me [laughter]. Bdale is the one adult 91 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in the room that can dress like 92 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 everyone else but I can't pull it off 93 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I respect Bdale that he can. The tie-dye still works for him. 94 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And I stopped wearing t-shirts years ago 95 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and here I'm sweating in my long sleeves 96 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 halfway between hacker and suit attire. 97 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And there [in the photo] I'm talking to Martin Michmayer 98 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I'm going to do questions at the end Lars. I'm not good with questions because I get off topic easy. 99 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I left 17 minutes at the end for questions which Bdale just took 3 of [laughter] 100 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 There I'm talking to Martin Michlmayer when I first met him. 101 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 A lot of things have changed since I looked at this photo. 102 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 But one thing that hasn't changed If you look, you see this face that Martin is making. 103 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 He still makes that face at me every time I talk to him, which sort of says 104 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 "You do not know what you are talking about" 105 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 That hasn't changed, which is good. [laughter]. I'm glad he is laughing in the back there. 106 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Some things have stayed the same. Martin still thinks I'm full of it. And I probably am, so that's ok. 107 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I like people to keep me honest. 108 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Other than jokes, the thing that hasn't really changed since I was first introduced to the Debian community 109 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in person back in 2001, is the ethos of this community is still the same one that I remember 110 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 even though a lot of the developers have changed.