Reposted from MediaShift Idea Lab

I'm currently working as the Technical Director of an online news site in New York City, Gotham Gazette and wrote this piece about a funders decision to require us not only to release the code we develop under the GPL but to develop our web-based news games using free software.

Their decision has given me a unique opportunity to "start the conversation" about free software with a lot of people I'd otherwise have a very difficult time engaging on the issue. My original post elicited a handful of comments, mostly from proponents of software freedom. The nay sayers (who I meet regularly) haven't spoken up as widely, but they are absolutely present.

As the Gotham Gazette prepares to launch our first Knight-funded news game, I've been thinking a lot more about their requirement that we produce our games using free and open source software.