Hi
No. We started about 1995. I was there the year before. I got it going after some people at the university for an "Oopen source conference" In a heavy English/Belgian accent. The only way I could pull in a crowd in was to ask RMS to join in. Which he did.
So, there was a OSDEM-meeting in Brussels in 1995 where RMS participated? Wow...
Definitely was. I was stood there looking at his face in front of me. I didn't imagine that :) I put him there on that stage in the Janson theatre... https://www.out.be/fr/lieux/3353/universite-libre-de-bruxelles-auditoire-p-e...
Still very much interested in some confirmation about these pre-2001 meetings.
Yes. So am I. Sadly I can say that most of us who helped to start open source and free software were under pressure from some sort of government department from several countries. Not the Belgian Government who wanted to see an open source vent take place. I might suggest Microsoft ? Could be wrong.
I'll be at the Debian booth at K level 1 (group A) btw.
Love the Debian project. Nice to see it is doing well :) -- Richard