Heresies in Free Software - what do the next 20 years look like?

It’s been 20 years since the Debian Free Software Guidelines were published as part of the Social Contract. In that time, free software has spread further than we could ever have imagined - everything from cars to watches are now dependent upon free software for at least part of their functionality. But in that time we’ve also seen huge shifts in how software is used and how it’s written, with people both becoming more dependent on remote services and on income related to free software development work. People now depend on free software to keep them safe from abusive governments, partners or parents, but have we become any better at designing and writing systems that ensure that their safety is preserved? And even though we’ve pioneered open discussion of diversity issues, why is free software still overwhelmingly produced by white men?

This talk is intended to challenge the status quo, to encourage us to revisit some of our preconceptions about what’s important about free software and what’s incidental, and to start a discussion on what the next 20 years of free software development and community growth should look like.

• Video