[GNU/FSF Press] Free Software Directory reaches 4,000 packages

[John Sullivan]

Boston, MA, USA - Thursday, June 9, 2005 - The Free Software
Foundation (FSF) today announced that the FSF's Free Software
Directory registered its 4,000th software package.

The Directory, which accounts for more than 40% of the traffic on the
FSF's Web site (receiving 2.25 million hits per month, an average of
321K per day), has grown and improved steadily in the past year: one
year ago, the Directory had 3153 packages; it now has 4,029. The Web
form, which lets developers enter packages themselves, has been
refined and expanded.

The category structure has undergone a fourth revision to reflect the
increasing depth of free software packages available. Mathematics,
formerly part of the Science category, is now on its own, while the
Science category itself has deepened considerably: there are now 11
subcategories under Science, including Artificial Intelligence,
Meteorology, and Genetics. The size and depth of the Science category
reflects free software's popularity in academia.

The variety of real-world applications of free software also increased
greatly: there are now enough fax-related, barcoding, and e-commerce
software for them to have their own categories. Moreover, you can now
run the following businesses with free software: an ISP, an animal
shelter, a medical practice, a travel agency, an Internet cafe, a real
estate office, an alternative energy company, a pizza parlor, a
winery, a library, a bookstore, a search-and-rescue team, and a full
service restaurant.

Free software is increasingly being used in creative
fields. 'CinePaint' is an image retouching software that has been used
in the production of (among others) Harry Potter, Scooby-Doo, and
Stuart Little.  'diskWriggler' is a newer package intended as a
benchmarking tool in film and post-production.

Individual video and multimedia artists are also using free software,
and many of them are writing their own tools. 'LiVes' and 'veejay' are
popular free software video editors; 'FreeJ', 'MoB', 'EffecTV',
'PureData', 'piksel', and 'PiDiP' are tools for working with video and
creating various effects.
        
The recognition the Directory has received has also increased. It was
profiled on lwn.net on August 25, 2004
[http://lwn.net/Articles/97521/].  At the FSF's first annual members'
meeting, in March 2003, Richard Stallman, President of the FSF, named
the Directory as his first choice of the two most important projects
the FSF had undertaken in the past five years. Almost 90% of the
packages in the Directory are licensed under the FSF's own GPL or LGPL
licenses.

The continuously rising number of packages in the Directory is proof
that usable, productive free software exists for a variety of
business, personal, and artistic contexts and can be found at
http://directory.fsf.org/.

-- About the Free Software Foundation: The Free Software Foundation,
founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to
use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF
promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software -
particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants - and
free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread
awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of
software. Their Web site, located at www.fsf.org, is an important
source of information about GNU/Linux. They are headquartered in
Boston, MA, USA.


(This announcement can be found at http://www.fsf.org/news/fsd.html .)
Boston, MA, USA - Thursday, June 9, 2005 - The Free Software
Foundation (FSF) today announced that the FSF's Free Software
Directory registered its 4,000th software package.

The Directory, which accounts for more than 40% of the traffic on the
FSF's Web site (receiving 2.25 million hits per month, an average of
321K per day), has grown and improved steadily in the past year: one
year ago, the Directory had 3153 packages; it now has 4,029. The Web
form, which lets developers enter packages themselves, has been
refined and expanded.

The category structure has undergone a fourth revision to reflect the
increasing depth of free software packages available. Mathematics,
formerly part of the Science category, is now on its own, while the
Science category itself has deepened considerably: there are now 11
subcategories under Science, including Artificial Intelligence,
Meteorology, and Genetics. The size and depth of the Science category
reflects free software's popularity in academia.

The variety of real-world applications of free software also increased
greatly: there are now enough fax-related, barcoding, and e-commerce
software for them to have their own categories. Moreover, you can now
run the following businesses with free software: an ISP, an animal
shelter, a medical practice, a travel agency, an Internet cafe, a real
estate office, an alternative energy company, a pizza parlor, a
winery, a library, a bookstore, a search-and-rescue team, and a full
service restaurant.

Free software is increasingly being used in creative
fields. 'CinePaint' is an image retouching software that has been used
in the production of (among others) Harry Potter, Scooby-Doo, and
Stuart Little.  'diskWriggler' is a newer package intended as a
benchmarking tool in film and post-production.

Individual video and multimedia artists are also using free software,
and many of them are writing their own tools. 'LiVes' and 'veejay' are
popular free software video editors; 'FreeJ', 'MoB', 'EffecTV',
'PureData', 'piksel', and 'PiDiP' are tools for working with video and
creating various effects.
        
The recognition the Directory has received has also increased. It was
profiled on lwn.net on August 25, 2004
[http://lwn.net/Articles/97521/].  At the FSF's first annual members'
meeting, in March 2003, Richard Stallman, President of the FSF, named
the Directory as his first choice of the two most important projects
the FSF had undertaken in the past five years. Almost 90% of the
packages in the Directory are licensed under the FSF's own GPL or LGPL
licenses.

The continuously rising number of packages in the Directory is proof
that usable, productive free software exists for a variety of
business, personal, and artistic contexts and can be found at
http://directory.fsf.org/.

-- About the Free Software Foundation: The Free Software Foundation,
founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to
use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF
promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software -
particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants - and
free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread
awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of
software. Their Web site, located at www.fsf.org, is an important
source of information about GNU/Linux. They are headquartered in
Boston, MA, USA.


(This announcement can be found at http://www.fsf.org/news/fsd.html .)

-- 
John Sullivan
Program Administrator        | Phone: (617)542-5942 x23    
51 Franklin Street, 5th Fl.  | Fax:   (617)542-2652     
Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA    | GPG:   AE8600B6