Eben Moglen Steps Down From Free Software Foundation
May 1, 2007 Leave a comment
(Via an InformationWeek article) It looks like Eben Moglen has stepped down from the FSF. From the article:
The Free Software Foundation has lost one of its best-known leaders.
Board member Eben Moglen announced this week that he is stepping down from the board and his position as general counsel now that the latest draft of GPLv3 has been released. A spokesman for the Software Freedom Law Center said that the two organizations will continue working together. Moglen gave a keynote speech at the MySQL Conference and Expo in Santa Clara, Calif., Wednesday and spoke as a leader of the Software Freedom Law Center during a phone interview afterward.
Moglen said he discussed his plans with others at the foundation before posting a blog explaining his reasons for leaving. FSF president Richard Stallman could not be reached immediately for comment, but Moglen said he left on good terms.
“This is not the consequence of disagreement about anything,” he said during an interview Wednesday.
Moglen said timing and other commitments drove his decision and that Stallman remains a friend.
“I have my own young, growing nonprofit to take care of,” he said. “We have a long alliance on working on things that we both consider very important: free software, technological liberty in the 21st century, and free society. I don’t think that can be changed, and I certainly don’t think this does it.”
While interesting that he didn’t stay through the completion of the GPLv3 process, it’s good to see that he left of amicable terms. He’ll surely be missed. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Eben speak a number of times and it’s always a worthwhile event. This is great news for any student at Columbia who now has a chance to get into one of his classes. Good luck with the SFLC Eben!
–jeremy
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