Editing Bruce Perens (section)

==Career==

===Computer graphics===
Perens worked for seven years at the [[New York Institute of Technology Computer Graphics Lab]]. After that, he worked at [[Pixar]] for 12 years, from 1987 to 1999. He is credited as a studio tools engineer on the Pixar films ''[[A Bug's Life]]'' (1998) and ''[[Toy Story 2]]'' (1999).<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0673302/ | website=IMdB | title=Bruce Perens| access-date=January 15, 2022}}</ref>

===No-Code International===
Perens founded No-Code International in 1998 with the goal of ending the Morse Code test then required for an [[amateur radio]] license. His rationale was that amateur radio should be a tool for young people to learn advanced technology and networking, rather than something that preserved antiquity and required new hams to master outmoded technology before they were allowed on the air.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lindquist|first=Rick|date=August 1999|title=Morse debate makes page 1|journal=QST|publisher=ARRL|pages=68}}</ref>

Perens lobbied intensively on the Internet, at amateur radio events in the United States, and during visits to other nations.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.eham.net/articles/12727|title=No-Code International Waged 'Battle'|website=eham.net|access-date=November 10, 2017}}</ref> One of his visits was to Iceland, where he had half of that nation's radio amateurs in the room, and their vote in the International Amateur Radio Union was equivalent to that of the entire United States.{{citation needed|date=November 2017}}

===Debian Social Contract===
In 1997,<ref>{{cite web|last1=Perens|first1=Bruce|title=About The Creation of the Open Source Definition|url=http://blog.algoram.com/blog/2014/11/24/about-the-creation-of-the-open-source-definition-and-the-debian-social-contract/|website=Algoram|access-date=August 24, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908110908/http://blog.algoram.com/blog/2014/11/24/about-the-creation-of-the-open-source-definition-and-the-debian-social-contract/|archive-date=September 8, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> Perens was [[Carbon copy|carbon-copied]] on an email conversation between Donnie Barnes of Red Hat and Ean Schuessler, who was then working on Debian. Schuessler bemoaned that Red Hat had never stated its social contract with the developer community. Perens took this as inspiration to create a formal social contract for Debian. In a blog posting, Perens claims not to have made use of the Three Freedoms (later the Four Freedoms) published by the Free Software Foundation in composing his document. Perens proposed a draft of the Debian Social Contract to the Debian developers on the debian-private mailing list early in June 1997. Debian developers contributed discussion and changes for the rest of the month while Perens edited, and the completed document was then announced as Debian project policy. Part of the Debian Social Contract was the [[Debian Free Software Guidelines]], a set of 10 guidelines for determining whether a set of software can be described as "free software", and thus whether it could be included in Debian.

===Open Source Definition and The Open Source Initiative===
On February 3, 1998, a group of people (not including Perens) met at VA Linux Systems to discuss the promotion of Free Software to business in pragmatic terms, rather than the moral terms preferred by [[Richard Stallman]]. Christine Petersen of the nanotechnology organization Foresight Institute, who was present because Foresight took an early interest in Free Software, suggested the term "Open Source". The next day, Eric S. Raymond recruited Perens to work with him on the formation of Open Source. Perens modified the Debian Free Software Guidelines into the Open Source Definition by removing Debian references and replacing them with "Open Source".

The original announcement of [[The Open Source Definition]] was made on February 9, 1998, on [[Slashdot]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=98/02/09/213900 |title=Free Software's New Name |publisher=Slashdot |date=February 9, 1998 |access-date=July 15, 2009}}</ref> and elsewhere; the definition was given in [[Linux Gazette]] on February 10, 1998.<ref name="LG"/>

Concurrently, Perens and Raymond established the [[Open Source Initiative]], an organization intended to promote open source software.

Perens left OSI in 1999, a year after co-founding it. In February 1999 in an email to the Debian developers mailing list he explained his decision and stated that, though "most hackers know that Free Software and Open Source are just two words for the same thing", the success of "open source" as a marketing term had "de-emphasized the importance of the freedoms involved in Free Software"; he added, "It's time for us to fix that." He stated his regret that OSI co-founder Eric Raymond "seems to be losing his free software focus."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/1999/debian-devel-199902/msg01641.html|author=Bruce Perens |title=It's Time to Talk About Free Software Again |publisher=Lists.debian.org |date=February 17, 1999|access-date=July 15, 2009}}</ref> But in the following 2000s he spoke about Open source again.<ref name="meet the perens"/><ref name="10yearsoss"/> Perens presently volunteers as the Open Source Initiative's representative to the European Technical Standards Institute ("ETSI"), and is a frequent participant in review of license texts submitted to OSI for certification as Open Source licenses.

===Linux Capital Group===
In 1999, Perens left Pixar and became the president of Linux Capital Group, a business incubator and [[venture capital]] firm focusing on Linux-based businesses. Their major investment was in [[Progeny Linux Systems]], a company headed by Debian founder Ian Murdock. In 2000, as a result of the economic downturn, Perens shut down Linux Capital Group.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.ageofpeers.com/resources/transcripts/transcript-bruce-perens-about-marketing-open-source-software| website=Age of Peers| title=Transcript of Bruce Perens about Marketing Open Source Software |first1=Sandro |last1=Groganz |first2=Bruce |last2=Perens | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://archive.today/20131104101155/http://www.ageofpeers.com/resources/transcripts/transcript-bruce-perens-about-marketing-open-source-software| archive-date=November 4, 2013}}</ref> (Progeny Linux Systems would end operations in 2007.)

===Hewlett-Packard===
From December 2000 to September 2002, Perens served as "Senior Global Strategist for Linux and Open Source" at [[Hewlett-Packard]], internally evangelizing for the use of Linux and other open-source software. He was fired as a result of his anti-[[Microsoft]] statements, which especially became an issue after HP acquired [[Compaq]], a major manufacturer of [[Microsoft Windows]]-based PCs, in 2002.<ref name="out at hp" />

===UserLinux===
In 2003 Perens created [[UserLinux]], a Debian-based distribution whose stated goal was, "Provide businesses with freely available, high quality Linux operating systems accompanied by certifications, service, and support options designed to encourage productivity and security while reducing overall costs." UserLinux was eventually overtaken in popularity by [[Ubuntu (operating system)|Ubuntu]], another Debian-based distribution, which was started in 2004, and UserLinux became unmaintained in 2006.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lwn.net/Articles/150701/ |author=corbet |title=Whither UserLinux? |publisher=lwn.net |date=September 7, 2005 |access-date=July 27, 2011}}</ref>

===SourceLabs===
Perens was an employee of SourceLabs, a [[Seattle]]-based open source software and services company, from June 2005 until December 2007.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://technocrat.net/d/2007/12/3/31038 |title=On My Own Again |publisher=Technocrat |first1=Bruce |last1=Perens |date=3 Dec 2007 |access-date=July 15, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224044617/http://technocrat.net/d/2007/12/3/31038/ |archive-date=February 24, 2009 }}</ref> He produced a video commercial, ''Impending Security Breach'', for SourceLabs in 2007. (SourceLabs was acquired by EMC in 2009.)

===University faculty===
Between 1981 and 1986, Perens was on the staff of the [[New York Institute of Technology Computer Graphics Lab]] as a Unix kernel programmer.

In 2002, Perens was a remote Senior Scientist for Open Source with the Cyber Security Policy Laboratory of [[George Washington University]] under the direction of Tony Stanco. Stanco was director of the laboratory for a year, while its regular director was on sabbatical.

Between 2006 and 2007, Perens was a visiting lecturer and researcher for the [[University of Agder]] under a three-year grant from the Competence Fund of Southern Norway. During this time he consulted the Norwegian Government and other entities on government policy issues related to computers and software.<ref>{{cite web|title=3/6: Bruce Perens: Innovation Goes Public |url=http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/events/36-bruce-perens-innovation-goes-public|publisher=Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230201084352/https://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/events/36-bruce-perens-innovation-goes-public |archive-date= Feb 1, 2023 }}</ref> After this time Perens worked remotely on Agder programs, mainly concerning the [[European Internet Accessibility Observatory]].

===Other activities===
In 2007, some of Perens's government advisory roles included a meeting with the President of the [[Chamber of Deputies (Italy)|Chamber of Deputies]] (the lower house of parliament) in Italy and testimony to the Culture Committee of the Chamber of Deputies;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://technocrat.net/d/2007/8/17/25151 |title=Visit to Rome |publisher=Technocrat |first1=Bruce |last1=Perens |date=17 Aug 2007 |access-date=July 15, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090223025543/http://technocrat.net/d/2007/8/17/25151/ |archive-date=February 23, 2009 }}</ref> a keynote speech at the foundation of Norway's Open Source Center, following Norway's Minister of Governmental Reform (Perens is on the advisory board of the center);<ref>{{cite web|url=http://technocrat.net/d/2007/8/17/25148 |title=Norway opens Free Software Center |publisher=Technocrat |first1= Bruce |last1=Perens |date=Aug 17, 2007 |access-date=July 15, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719170110/http://technocrat.net/d/2007/8/17/25148 |archive-date=July 19, 2008 }}</ref> he provided input on the revision of the [[European Interoperability Framework]];<ref>{{cite web|url=http://perens.com/works/articles/EIF2/ |title=Bruce Perens – The Confusion of Tongues: EIF 2.0, Standards, and Interoperability |publisher=Perens.com |date=September 13, 2007 |access-date=July 15, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090204002109/http://perens.com/works/articles/EIF2/ |archive-date=February 4, 2009 }}</ref> and he was keynote speaker at a European Commission conference on ''Digital Business Ecosystems at the Centre Borschette, Brussels, on November 7''.

In 2009, Perens acted as an [[expert witness]] on open source in the [[Jacobsen v. Katzer]] U.S. Federal lawsuit. His report, which was made publicly available by Jacobsen, presented the culture and impact of [[open-source software development]] to the federal courts.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://perens.com/works/testimony/PerensJMRI.pdf |title=Expert Report of Bruce Perens |publisher=Northern California District Court |date=October 20, 2009 |access-date=March 12, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100331083827/http://perens.com/works/testimony/PerensJMRI.pdf |archive-date=March 31, 2010 }}</ref>

Perens delivered one of the keynote addresses at the 2012 [[linux.conf.au]] conference in [[Ballarat]], Australia. He discussed the need for open source software to market itself better to non-technical users.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/opensource/dont-miss-developments-from-linuxconfau-2012/3361 |title=Don't miss developments from Linux.conf.au 2012 |author=Selena Frye |date=January 20, 2012 |publisher=Tech Republic |access-date=July 30, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120525130600/http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/opensource/dont-miss-developments-from-linuxconfau-2012/3361 |archive-date= May 25, 2012 }}</ref> He also discussed some of the latest developments in open-source hardware, such as Papilio and Bus Pirate.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gadgetfactory.net/2012/01/bruce-perens-mentions-papilio-and-bus-pirate-in-linux-keynote-speech/ |title=Bruce Perens Mentions Papilio and Bus Pirate in Linux Keynote Speech |author=hoppasaurus |date=January 25, 2012 |publisher=Gadget Factory |access-date=July 30, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130412211610/http://www.gadgetfactory.net/2012/01/bruce-perens-mentions-papilio-and-bus-pirate-in-linux-keynote-speech/ |archive-date= Apr 12, 2013 }}</ref>

In 2013, Perens spoke in South America, as the closing keynote at Latinoware 2013. He was the keynote of CISL – Conferencia Internacional de Software Libre, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and keynoted a special event along with the Minister of software and innovation of Chubut Province, in Puerto Madrin, Patagonia, Argentina. He keynoted the Festival de Software Libre 2013, in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

In 2014–2015, Perens took a break from Open Source conferences, having spoken at them often since 1996. In 2016, he returned to the conference circuit, keynoting the Open Source Insight conference in Seoul, sponsored by the Copyright Commission of South Korea. Perens web site presently advertises his availability to keynote conferences as long as travel and lodging expenses are compensated.

In 2020, Perens delivered the talk, "What Comes After Open Source?" for DebConf 2020. He discussed the future of open source licensing and the need to develop alternative licensing structures so that open source developers could get paid for their work.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://debconf20.debconf.org/talks/10-what-comes-after-open-source/ |title=What Comes After Open Source? |publisher=DebConf20 |first1=Bruce |last1=Perens |date=August 24, 2020 |access-date=May 21, 2021}}</ref>