http://blogs.fsfe.org/greve/?p=403
*champagne*
(How many other free software people have knighthoods? There's Sir Tim Berners-Lee. Florence Devouard, previous chair of the Wikimedia Foundation, got chevalier in the Ordre national du Mérite. Any others?)
- d.
Dear David,
Thanks a lot for the congratulations! :)
On Monday 03 May 2010 00:09:09 David Gerard wrote:
How many other free software people have knighthoods?
Considering that Slashdot was a bit confused about this, as well as my person and the rationale for the award, and some people seem to have taken this a little too seriously, allow me to point out that Germany got rid of knighthood a long time ago.
The Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon is internationally part of the orders of knighthood, hence the "knighting" meme.
But as things are I did not get to kneel in heavy armor, there were no swords involved, and I don't get to herd my sheep over the Köhlbrandbrücke in Hamburg or something similarly cool that might have been associated with this in the UK.
That said, it is a great honor for Free Software and Open Standards and I am truly happy for all the things this represents.
With best regards, Georg
On 03/05/10 13:32, Georg C. F. Greve wrote:
The Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon is internationally part of the orders of knighthood, hence the "knighting" meme.
"Greve" actually means Count/Earl in Danish, Swedish and Norwegian (possibly other languages as well) - as you probably know, so it's only fitting :-)
Congratulations!
Vox
On 3 May 2010 12:32, Georg C. F. Greve greve@fsfe.org wrote:
On Monday 03 May 2010 00:09:09 David Gerard wrote:
How many other free software people have knighthoods?
Considering that Slashdot was a bit confused about this, as well as my person and the rationale for the award, and some people seem to have taken this a little too seriously, allow me to point out that Germany got rid of knighthood a long time ago. The Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon is internationally part of the orders of knighthood, hence the "knighting" meme.
And Florence Devouard's isn't equivalent in status to a British knighthood either - her Order of Merit medal is in the "chevalier" (knight) class, which is actually the lowest order of the medal.
(A British knighthood is big status. That's why it's so significant that TimBL got one, and so outrageous that Bill Gates got one.)
I was just interested in who else could claim to be a Knight of Free Software :-)
That said, it is a great honor for Free Software and Open Standards and I am truly happy for all the things this represents.
Indeed!
- d.