Second Free Software Foundation Award Given to Miguel de Icaza for His Work on the GNOME Project; Award Given During the Bazaar at the Jacob Javitz Center in New York City.NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 15, 1999-- The Free Software Foundation (FSF FSF - Free Software Foundation ) bestowed its second Free Software Foundation Award for the Advancement of Free Software The Free Software Foundation Award for the Advancement of Free Software is annually presented by the Free Software Foundation to a person who has made a great contribution to the progress and development of free software, through activities that accord with the spirit of free to Miguel de Icaza Miguel de Icaza (born c. 1972) is a Mexican free software programmer, best known for starting the GNOME and Mono projects. Miguel de Icaza was born in Mexico City and studied at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) but never received a degree. . The award, a one-of-a-kind handmade quilt, was given to the 27-year-old Mexico native for de Icaza's excellent work on the GNOME gnome (nōm), in folklore, tiny subterranean creature associated with mines and quarries. Usually represented as misshapen, frequently as hunchbacked, gnomes are said to be guardians of hidden treasures. project. The ceremony was held in conjunction with the Bazaar, an EarthWeb event currently taking place at the Jacob Javitz Center in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. . de Icaza headed a team of more than 300 programmers worldwide, most of them volunteers, in the development of GNOME. GNOME is a user-friendly graphical users interface (GUI (Graphical User Interface) A graphics-based user interface that incorporates movable windows, icons and a mouse. The ability to resize application windows and change style and size of fonts are the significant advantages of a GUI vs. a character-based interface. ) and programming platform for GNU/Linux. GNOME 1.0 was first released in March 1999 and has since had a step-up release. "Miguel's efforts have done a great deal to bring the free software model into the mainstream," Peter Salus, chairman of the Free Software Foundation Awards Committee, said. "The GNOME project enables a new generation of computer users to access the power of GNU/Linux." The two other finalists for the award were: Donald Knuth for his TeX and METAFONT systems, which developed a new paradigm for typesetting typesetting: see printing. typesetting Setting of type for use in any of various printing processes. Type for printing, using woodblocks, was invented in China in the 11th century, and movable type using metal molds had appeared in Korea by the 13th and for his technique of literate programming; and John Gilmore for his work with Cygnus Solutions, the first company dedicated to supporting free software, as well as for his continued championship of the Free Software movement. "We began the Free Software Foundation Award as a way to honor those who have tirelessly given their time and their immense talent to further the free software movement," Richard Stallman, founder and president of the Free Software Foundation, said. "We felt that Miguel's continued work on the GNOME project deserved the honor." de Icaza continues the effort to make GNOME a competitive user's interface, developing programs like Bonobo bonobo, smaller of two species of chimpanzee, genus Pan. Whereas the common chimpanzee, P. troglodytes, lives in forests across most of equatorial Africa, the bonobo, P. , a compound document model system that enables all programs using the GNOME format to work together seamlessly. He and partner Nat Friedman have founded Helix Code, a company dedicated to taking GNOME to the next level by providing viable, commercial-grade software based on the free software model. About the Free Software Foundation The Free Software Foundation, a 501c nonprofit, is dedicated to eliminating restrictions on people's rights to use, copy, modify and redistribute computer programs. This is done by promoting the development of new free software, working toward the goal of eliminating the need to use proprietary systems and programs. They also work to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues that concern software users' freedom. Their Web site, located at www.gnu.org, is an important source of information about GNU/Linux worldwide, receiving more than 1 million hits per week. They have headquarters in Boston. |
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