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diff --git a/script.txt b/script.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..676331c --- /dev/null +++ b/script.txt @@ -0,0 +1,254 @@ +History of Software Freedom +=========================== + +Hacker Subculture +----------------- +~3:00 + +slide: + Hacking + +notes: + I'll discuss the hacker subculture first, since hacker values permeate and + give context to the history of software freedom. + Can anyone tell me what "hacking" is? + <expect something about breaking into computers> + What if I told you that this is a hack? + +slide: + <image of MIT nyan cat> + +notes: + This is a nyan cat that hackers hanged in MIT's Lobby 7 last September. MIT + is actually where the hacker subculture flourished. + +slide: + <image of TMRC railroad> + +notes: + Through the 1950s, MIT's Tech Model Railroad Club built a huge train layout. + Under this layout was a complex matrix of wires, relays, and crossbar + switches, called "The System". Members of the Club's Signals and Power + Subcommittee were obsessed with understanding and improving The System. + They developed a jargon of terms including "hack", which described any + innovative project or feat undertaken with wild pleasure. They proudly + called themselves "hackers". + +slide: + <photo of MIT hackers with Spacewar!> + +notes: + Eventually, the MIT model train hackers found computers and enthusiastically + began programming them. As they honed their skills, a set of beliefs + formed. Steven Levy codified these beliefs in the six tenets of the Hacker + Ethic. + +slide: + The Hacker Ethic: + 1. Access to computers---and anything that might teach you something about + the way the world works---should be unlimited and total. Always yield + to the Hands-On Imperative! + 2. All information should be free. + 3. Mistrust Authority: Promote Decentralization. + 4. Hackers should be judged on their hacking, not bogus criteria such as + degrees, age, race, or position. + 5. You can create art and beauty on a computer. + 6. Computers can change your life for the better. + +notes: + One: Access to computers---and anything that might teach you something about + the way the world works---should be unlimited and total. Always yield to + the Hands-On Imperative! + Two: All information should be free. + Three: Mistrust Authority: Promote Decentralization. + Four: Hackers should be judged on their hacking, not bogus criteria such as + degrees, age, race, or position. + Five: You can create art and beauty on a computer. + Six: Computers can change your life for the better. + +slide: + > The word hack doesn't really have 69 different meanings. In fact, hack + > has only one meaning, an extremely subtle and profound one which defies + > articulation. + -- Phil Agre + > hacker + > A person who delights in having an intimate understanding of the + > internal workings of a system, computers and computer networks in + > particular. The term is often misused in a pejorative context, + > where "cracker" would be the correct term. See also: cracker. + -- RFC 1392 + +notes: + As MIT hacker Phil Agre notes, the word "hack" has "one meaning, an + extremely subtle and profound one which defies articulation". Renowned + hacker Dr. Richard Stallman defines "hacking" as "exploring the limits of + what is possible, in a spirit of playful cleverness". + As noted in RFC 1392 and elsewhere, the term "hacking" is often incorrectly + used to describe breaking into computer systems. The alternative term + "cracking" has been offered for such malicious activities. + +slide: + <image of police car on Great Dome> + +notes: + The word "hack" has long been used at MIT to describe elaborate college + pranks, such as assembling what appeared to be a campus police car atop the + Great Dome. + +slide: + Network Working Group D. Waitzman + Request for Comments: 1149 BBN STC + 1 April 1990 + + + A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers + + Status of this Memo + + This memo describes an experimental method for the encapsulation of + IP datagrams in avian carriers. This specification is primarily + useful in Metropolitan Area Networks. This is an experimental, not + recommended standard. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. + +notes: + On April 1, 1990, the Internet Engineering Task Force displayed its sense of + humor with RFC 1149, "A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on + Avian Carriers". This hack defined a way to transmit network data over + carrier pidgeons. + +slide: + <photo of BLUG members with pidgeons> + +notes: + Eleven years later, the Bergen Linux User Group in Norway implemented the + standard on GNU/Linux, recording a mere 55% packet loss and an average + round-trip time of one hour and 46 minutes. + + +An Age of Freedom +----------------- +~2:00 + +slide: + In the beginning, there was freedom. + * Software freedom is as old as computing. + * Sharing software is to computing as sharing recipes is to cooking. + * Software was free out of necessity and culture. + +notes: + Having defined hacking and detailing hacker values, I'd like to explore the + history of software freedom. + Free software and open source are not new ideas. Software freedom is in + fact as old as computing is. Roughly, sharing software is to computing as + sharing recipes is to cooking. + Software was normally distributed in a human-readable form because users + often modified it to run on different computers and operating systems, to + fix bugs, or to add features. + +slide: + <image of PDP-1> + +notes: + Here we see the PDP-1, produced by Digital Equipment Corporation in 1959. + This was one of the first minicomputers produced. After its donation to MIT + in 1962, it became the favorite machine of the budding hacker culture. + But the PDP-1 was sold without software. Users wrote their own software, + and they realized that it would be terribly inefficient for everyone to + write from scratch all the software they needed to run their computers. So + instead, they shared what they wrote. + +slide: + <image of DECUS No. 85 cover> + +notes: + In 1961, the Digital Equipment Computer Users' Society was founded to + facilitate the free exchange of information between users and the + manufacturer. Over the years, they collected and published a large number + of programs to run on the PDP-1. + +slide: + +notes: + In 1969, four AT&T employees wrote for the PDP-7 an operating system called + Unix. It was to be "a system around which a fellowship could form". Under + the settlement terms of a 1958 antitrust case, AT&T was required to license + non-telephone technology to anyone who asked. Subsequently, Unix was + distributed, with source code, to universities, corporations, and the U.S. + government. Lion's Commentary, a book published in 1976, documented Unix's + source code. Throughout the 1970s, universities worldwide contributed + greatly to the development of Unix. + + +Proprietarization +----------------- +~2:30 + +slide: + <Bill Gates's Arizona mugshot> + +notes: + Then things started to change. Many people attribute this to this man, Bill + Gates. But it actually began even before Gates entered college. + +slide: + ??? + +notes: + In 1969, IBM stopped providing software in source form along with their + hardware. Instead, they began separately selling binary copies of software + at a high cost. Thus, they pioneered what is now called the "software + industry". + +slide: + <some excerpt of "Open Letter to Hobbyists"> + +notes: + In 1976, Bill Gates, General Partner of Micro-Soft, was fed up with members + of the Homebrew Computing Club sharing software. He published in the Club's + newsletter an "Open Letter to Hobbyists", accusing Club members of + "stealing". He claimed that sharing is unfair and prevents the writing of + good software, apparently forgetting about the software that was good + *because* it was shared for years. + +slide: + ??? + +notes: + But note that sharing software was still perfectly legal. This was fixed in + 1980 when Congress passed the Computer Software Copyright Act. This + legislation did two things. First, it added to Copyright Law a definition + for "computer program", thus making software copyrightable. Second, it + amended Title 17 of the United States Code, section 117 to declare that + running a computer program is not an infringement of copyright. So, sharing + and modifying software without a license became illegal. But no license was + necessary to run a program. + +slide: + ??? + +notes: + Then companies started writing contracts called "End-user license + agreements". How many of you have read every such contract to which you've + agreed? + <expect no hands> + These contracts typically circumvent section 117 by arguing that the + software they cover is "licensed, not sold". That is, a contract claims + that you don't own the Microsoft Windows CD you buy from a store. Microsoft + owns the disk and gives you permission to run it. The legality of this + practice is disputed. + Furthermore, these contracts take away many otherwise legally-protected + rights. By agreeing to one, you forfeit rights to make fair use of the + software, to use it in a house with more than five computers, to reverse + engineer it to learn how it works, or even to talk about how well it works. + + +The GNU Project +--------------- + + +Linux +----- + + +Open Source +----------- |