The fifth international GPLv3 conference was held on 22nd and 23rd of November in Akibara Tokyo Japan. A couple of months back, RMS had spoken at the 4th GPLv3 international conference held at Bangalore India. These conferences are a part of a series of events organized by Free Software Foundation to enlighten the public about the upcoming new version of GPL, more specifically to make them aware how GPLv3 will help them better in safeguarding their freedom vis-a-vis the software they use.
In Tokyo too, RMS gave a talk which concentrated on the upcoming GPLv3 and the major changes that they are thinking of bringing to the license in its current form. fsfeurope.org is running a transcript of Mr Stallman's talk in Tokyo which is a must read for any GNU/Linux enthusiast.
He dwelt in depth on a variety of topics such as the differences between GPLv1 and GPLv2, The changes that are aimed at GPLv3 such as better support for internationalization, better license compatibility with the Apache license and the Eclipse license, preventing tivoisation, fighting software patents by carrying an explicit patent license and a few other things.
It is really simple when you look at the logic provided by RMS. He is not concerned about any particular OS or software... rather, his number one priority is to conserve the freedoms enjoyed by the people who use Free software in a way such that nobody will be able to hold the Free Software Movement at ransom. Today Linux is the darling of many corporates with many of the heavy weights jumping on the Linux bandwagon. For any business, the fundamental aim is to make money. And with Linux becoming a viable platform, businesses are slowly realizing the advantages of embracing Linux. The only irritant that is standing in their way is the GPL license which they could do without. RMS and Free Software Foundation is working towards safeguarding the GPL by plugging all its loopholes so that it is not possible to circumvent it and thus compromise any of the freedoms guaranteed by GPL.
