A short time ago, a former colleague from Digital Equipment Corporation sent me a message. He wanted to gather a group of "Free Software People" to come and talk to his well-known company about how they could better integrate their code into the Free Software world. The people he wanted to attend included Bdale Garbee, Jim Zemlin, Linus Torvalds, and myself.

I was honored to be included in this gathering of FOSS names, but I questioned whether this was truly a learning experience or a marketing event for his company. After all, just one of these people (any one of them) could have given him a wide range of help in steering his company onto the Free Software path, and even different people might have been more helpful from a technical side. If someone really wanted to understand Free Software and how to work with it, there are also many articles and books available. I dare say there are even many people in his own company that already know about Free Software, how to use it, and how to work with the community in creating more Free Software. He did not need five or six outsiders to come into his company just to tell them how to work with the community on FOSS.

It was at this point, the conversation started to go downhill, and eventually he said the fateful words, "maddog, it is not a religion, it is just a technology."

I have heard many times how Free Software is like a religion, and in some cases I can understand why people feel that way. However, for a long time, I have been discussing the pragmatic values of FOSS and basically how companies, schools, and governments can either save money or make money utilizing Free Software. I do understand that Free Software may not be for everyone, and I normally do not criticize people who use closed source code in their work or life. I do often take time out of my life to explain to people why they should be using Free Software … it is part of what I do.

On the other hand, I recognize that some companies have fought against Free Software. If this were done in the interest of the best solution for the customer, I would understand that, too. However, some companies have gone way beyond that point and, particularly in poorer societies of the world, used methods that I would consider less than ethical, if not illegal. Some people might consider this just playing hard ball at marketing. I, however, believe that business should be about more than the bottom line. So, if that is what is meant by Free Software being a religion, I guess I am somewhat guilty.

On the other hand, I think that FOSS is a little bit more than "just technology." FOSS depends on people, and I remember two people who died in the past couple of weeks and many who are still living.

Ian Murdock was the first of the two who died, and a lot of people in the Free Software community knew about him and his contributions to Debian and to Free Software in general. Ian was a brilliant guy, a hard worker, and a person that many young programmers could use as a role model. To him, Free Software was more than just technology, it was a commitment to end users.

The second person who died (on the same night) was little known outside of our FOSS group in New Hampshire. Bill Sconce was a devoted Python advocate, although he used and supported all types of FOSS. When I first met Bill at our local LUG meetings, I might introduce a piece of software that ran on top of GNU/Linux, and Bill would say, "But is it FREE Software?" Bill wanted to know that the software we spent our time on would help the cause go forward.

Bill also actively promoted Python. He held Python meetings once a months and welcomed Python programmers young and old to learn how better to use Python. Bill always brought a gallon of milk and some homemade goodies (courtesy of his long-time companion, Janet Levy) to the meetings to share.

There are others, of course, and (thankfully) most of them are still living and contributing, but many people do not contribute for money or anything material. They contribute because it is the "right thing to do," and because they see the bigger picture, which most companies should be able to see by now.

If FOSS were just technology, then the loss of Bill and Ian would not be felt as great. Free Software, however, is community, and that can never be fully measured or paid in full.