Richard Stallman looks like either a prophet or an aging hippie, but you would never mistake him for a businessman. His long brown hair, scraggily beard and penchant for T-shirts and loose-fitting pants are in sharp contrast to the striped suits worn by nearly everyone else in the technology industry.
It's Mr. Stallman's views on software, however, that really make him stand out from the crowd.
Mr. Stallman is the force behind the Free Software Foundation, and a document called the General Public Licence (GPL).
The GPL is a set of rules that govern the ways people can develop, distribute and use software that others can modify.
Most people know of this as open source software, but the term open source was not used until the late 1990s. Until then, it was called free software, and it was a response to the "locked down" software from companies like Microsoft that can't be modified without violating copyright.
Now Mr. Stallman wants to update the GPL, but even open source supporters are fighting his changes.
The most famous use of the GPL is the Linux operating system, which was designed by then-university student Linus Torvalds and offered to the world.
The world, in turn, has embraced Linux and has used it in servers, back-end systems and even desktops. Linux has not only proved more affordable in some cases than Windows, it also allows companies with the right expertise to tweak it to better suit their needs.
Small businesses in Canada may not all have this expertise today, but the number of open source options available is growing, and within 10 years it is likely a number of their software systems will be based on open source, if they aren't already.
What they can do with that software, though, may depend on the version of the GPL under which it was released.
Mr. Torvalds used GPL Version 2 when he developed Linux. Version 3 -- the third draft of which was released last week -- contained a number of provisions that have made him angry.
GPL 3, for example, insists that consumers should be allowed to break into hardware devices and add their own features if they want to, including the set-top boxes on TV sets.
The companies that make that kind of hardware use what's called digital rights management (DRM) technology to block such tampering. GPL 3 tries to forbid DRM.
"When we speak of free software," the draft says, "we are referring to freedom, not price. To protect your rights, we need to make requirements that forbid anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights.
"Therefore, you have certain responsibilities if you distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it."
In response, Mr. Torvalds posted his thoughts on an online forum lambasting Mr. Stallman and the tone of the GPL revision, which he says is impractical.
"I think that 'freedom' is fine, but we're not exactly talking about slavery here. Trying to make it look like we're the Abraham Lincoln of our generation just makes us look stupid and stuck up," he wrote.
"The GPL 3 is designed to take the Free Software Foundation back to its original 'good old days,' when 'free software' was a war, and [Stallman] was its proselytizing general. But the fact is, it's not a war, and peaceful and happy co-existence is actually much preferable."
This is actually the first time the GPL has been changed in the last 16 years, and the biggest problem with Version 3 is that it may not be compatible with previous versions. That would cause nightmares for companies that are already using five-year-old open source software who want to add something new to the mix.
Suddenly these customers would be faced with the prospect of poring through the various licences to make sure they aren't breaking any rules.
