...about $200,000 to us last year. We also have a corporate programme and we list the main donors on our Web site, so people know who has given to the FSF. These companies have each given at least $2,000 each. We also make money from selling books, t-shirts, and other items.
Last year, you said that you were hoping to raise $500,000 for GPL evangelising. How much of this have you raised so far?
So far we have raised $140,000, but we're still raising money for that.
Does the Free Software Foundation have any plans for growth in the next few years?
The FSF isn't looking to grow in size, as we already do what we do well. We don't want to grow because you want the passion to already be in people. You don't want to be paying for that passion.
We don't want to dominate this area. We're very happy to see other organisations doing good jobs and are very pleased there's such a thing as Groklaw, and the Software Freedom Law Center. We don't want it all to be under our control.
Most of the FSF's work is not campaigning, it's providing infrastructure to the free software community. The number of contributors has really increased over the last three years, so we needed a better infrastructure and more employees to support it.
What do you think is the future of the free software movement?
I think proprietary software is becoming a thing of the past — you can't compete against freedom. You don't have proprietary software people saying that they ethically don't like free software.
What do Microsoft employees work on at home? They work on free software. If you love writing code, then you love free software as you're sharing your code with people. So, straight away there is a community that love the idea of free software.
The other thing that free software allows is that code will never die. If you're any type of organisation and you have to sign a contract with proprietary software firm, what happens if the company disappears tomorrow? You can't hire another consultant to work on the code. In so many ways I think free software will dominate the world.
And, finally, why do you enjoy working for the Free Software Foundation?
I've worked in organisations before where people 'care', but these people don't compare to the likes of Richard. It's great to be able to come to a place where the main cause is freedom.
Richard is what makes the FSF unique. He founded it and is still the leader of the free software movement. He doesn't take a salary and lives like a student — he doesn't have a house or a car. He lives in a way that he doesn't have to depend on a source of revenue. He lives off speaker fees and prize money from awards he has won, such as the MacArthur grant and the Takeda Award.
He is probably out of the country doing speaking engagements 250 days a year. He's often away a month at a time. His last tour was in Europe and he had 20 speaking engagements in a few weeks. He was very tired when I saw him yesterday at the annual member's meeting. Despite this, he stood up and gave a speech. I guess when you believe in a cause as much as he does, then it's easy to keep doing it.
Even when Richard travels, he raises money for us by selling GNU pins. When he came into the office yesterday he had bundles of dollars from selling them in Italy. He takes a lot of care over how the FSF spends its money. We're not like a lot of non-profits in that way.
So not only is he an ethical hacker, but he backs it up with the way he lives. He spends his whole time and energy giving speeches and trying to convert people to free software.
