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Free Software Foundation (FSF) Probably Has No Choice But to Shut Down Its Office

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Sep 10, 2024,
updated Sep 10, 2024

FSF closing party

John Gilmore (EFF co-founder) recently joined the Board of the FSF along with 2 others (one left) and the office of the FSF in Boston shut down. The FSF's office closing party has this image from the FSF. Someone who planned to go to that party said she'd take photos and send us some.

GNU is turning 41 this month and its founder gave a public talk a few weeks ago. The efforts to destroy him didn't quite succeed, but revenue of the Free Software Foundation Inc decreased to a million bucks last year ("Net Income -$686,366").

Free Software Foundation Inc

Looking at the latest filing, which is very recent, it has enough money left for several more years, but expenses must be kept under control:

fiscal year ending Sept. 2023

How much will the office closure save? The answer is in page 10:

Before office closure

Many people can work from home anyway, especially in technical disciplines.

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