"We don't want people to assume we agree with the open-source movement simply because they see the words "open source" used to describe our project," Stallman says. "Or (because) they see our project on a site that describes all it's content as open source."

Stallman says the Free Software Foundation approached SourceForge.net asking for both philosophies to be endorsed equally, but SourceForge officials didn't step up to the plate.

"We're committed to supporting both the free-software and open-source movements," responds Patrick McGovern, SourceForge's site director. He adds that SourceForge makes it easy to display the free-software license on project home pages and wants to work with the Free Software Foundation on ways to better promote its ideals. Stallman and his allies, though, are planning to build their own site. In an intriguing twist, they're using the same software that powers SourceForge -- it's freely available to all, after all. The FSF hopes its site will recharge a philosophy that has been eclipsed in recent years with the advent of the open-source software movement and its more amiable attitude toward the traditional business world. Citing Raymond's own research, Stallman says about a third of open-source programmers identify with free-software principles. And he hopes to attract those to the free-software collaboration site under construction.

Whether Stallman and the FSF will succeed in stealing back some thunder is open to question. There's always the problem of how one pays for resources as such a site becomes more successful -- a problem that will also continue to plague VA Linux as the company seeks profitability. Meanwhile, the number of open-source coders gathering at SourceForge continues to grow. And if the newcomers are anything like Julian Missig, the site is likely to keep taking the open-source movement further. Missig's experience at SourceForge with the Gabber program has helped crystallize his college and career goals: He wants to study and eventually work on open-source user-interface programs.

The busy teen fully intends to keep cramming in his collective coding sessions.

"It's something I look forward to," he says. "It's a lot of people collaborating on a piece of software to make it better."

The Free Software Project
Read Andrew Leonard's book-in-progress on Linux and open source -- and post your comments.