I attended a seminar on FLOSS today and I met Brian, who is the co-founder of Apache.

He gave a presentation on FLOSS explaining the various models of software development and the pitfalls in proprietary software development and why the Open Source Model avoids a lot of software engineering problems.

During the tea break, I walked up to him, introduced myself and shook hands, asking him a few questions about why he preferred the BSD style license over GPL. He was very informative and explained why he thought the BSD Open Source License was more "comfortable" for developers and that he had nothing against the GPL. Seems to be a very nice man.

There were also other lectures by Anna University professors about FLOSS in India, specifically a very good SWOT analysis of FLOSS in India and explored some opportunities as to the growth of FLOSS in India.

There was also a Q&A session at the end where audience members asked a few questions and Mr. Behlendorff obliged.

A very good session.

Always nice to meet a "celebrity" in the Open Source community, especially when the chances are rare here in India...