Vim developer Bram Moolenaar posthumously receives the European SFS Award
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) and Linux User Group Bolzano-Bozen (LUGBZ) posthumously honored Bram Moolenaar, creator of the widely used Vim text editor, with the European SFS Award at SFSCON 2024. This award celebrates Moolenaar’s invaluable contributions to the Free Software community.
“This year’s European SFS Award goes to Bram Moolenaar whose mantra was ‘Detect inefficiencies, find a quicker way, make it a habit’, someone for whom efficiency of computers users was crucial. His work transformed how many interact with computers, maximizing programmers productivity by minimizing unnecessary keystrokes. His tool has become invaluable for Free Software contributors, developers, and creators.” said Matthias Kirschner, president of the FSFE as he presented the 2024 European SFS Award during SFSCON 24.
Bram Moolenaar is best known for developing VIM, a powerful, screen-based text editor. Released in 1991, Vim was originally a port of the Stevie editor for Amiga and has since become an indispensable tool for developers worldwide, available across multiple platforms. Vim remains one of the most popular and versatile development environments, supporting countless programmers and fostering a dedicated user community. Moolenaar released Vim as “charityware,” encouraging users to support *****ren in the south of Uganda through charitable donations.
“Educating others to empower them was also important for Bram outside of the technology field”, explained Raphael Barbieri, a member of LUGBZ, during the ceremony. “He helped *****ren in Uganda, many of whom had lost their parents to HIV, gain access to education at the Kibaale Community Centre. He founded an NGO to collection donations for this work, even on his work desk there was a piggy bank so that visitors can easily donate.”
Beyond Vim, Moolenaar was a prolific contributor to the Free Software movement, having worked on numerous technical projects, created a programming language, and developed a tool to streamline software installation and management. He also held official roles within software organisations, amplifying his impact on the Free Software landscape.
This award commemorates Moolenaar’s unwavering dedication to help others to better understand computers and software. It gave him great pleasure to participate in conferences, explain the Free Software culture at his work place, and help others to develop and use his software. He wanted others to also experience this joy. "If you are happy, I am happy!" was one of his sayings. Moolenaar passed away on 3 August, 2023, due to a rapidly deteriorating illness. His legacy in the developer community and in social work is expected to continue.
In a message from Moolenaar's family, they expressed their pride and gratitude: "We are very proud that Bram received this award. As a dedicated supporter of Free Software, we believe he would have been honored to accept it. We thank the Free Software Foundation Europe and LUGBZ for recognizing Bram's lifelong work and encourage anyone wishing to honor him to support *****ren in Uganda through ICCF Holland."
The European SFS Award
The SFS Award was first presented in 2004 to Hugo Leiter at the SFSCON South Tyrol Free Software Conference in recognition of his work implementing LibreOffice across all municipalities in South Tyrol. In 2023, the award expanded to a European level, with the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) partnering with LUGBZ, the award’s initiator, to honor those who have made exceptional contributions to the promotion and dissemination of Free Software across Europe.
The European SFS Award celebrates developers whose work has significantly advanced the accessibility and impact of Free Software in Europe. In 2023, the award was presented to Frank Karlitschek, founder of Nextcloud, for his contributions to Free Software.
2024 Laudatio
Matthias: It is an honor to present the European SFS Award 2024. The FSFE and LUGBZ worked together again this year to find a winner from all nominations. This year’s European SFS Award goes to someone whose work transformed how many interact with computers, creating a tool for Free Software contributors, developers, and creators. A tool that new users might be a little afraid of because it can be tricky to exit.
Raphael: (Yes, you may know the software we’re talking about.) A piece of code that makes every keystroke feel like a power move, where “Esc” is the most important key on your keyboard. Since its launch in 1991, this software has spread across more than 15 operating systems and is installed on millions of computers around the world.
Matthias: For our winner, efficiency of computer users was crucial. His mantra was: “Detect inefficiencies, find a quicker way, make it a habit!” and he helped many people to how to actually accomplish this. He went on to help those he met on mailing lists, at conferences like SFSCON in 2009, or at his workplace. He even talked to public administrations, so they actually use and thereby benefit from Free Software. He wanted to ensure that all software which is procured by public administrations is published under a Free Software license for the good of society.
Raphael: Educating others to empower them was also important for him outside of the technology field. He helped *****ren in Uganda -- who often lost their parents due to HIV -- to get education at the Kibaale Community Centre. He enabled school education for many of them so they can take care about themselves and their families in the long run. He founded an NGO to collection donations for this work, even on his work desk there was a piggy bank so that visitors can easily donate.
Matthias: There was a huge online rivalry between the users of his software and those on the other side: those who used another "operating system" and who called his software the "editor of the beast". This rivalry became an enduring part of hacker culture and the Free Software community. A huge fan of Monty Pythons, this year's winner did not shy away from engaging in such banter.
Raphael: His dedication was enormous. His family will not forget the moments, in which he disappeared on Christmas day, because he "needed to fix some bugs". It gave him great pleasure to develop and use his software, and he wanted to help others to also experience this joy. "If you are happy, I am happy!" was one of his sayings. He took every opportunity to work on his projects, even while in the hospital.
Matthias:With his death on 3 August 2023 the Free Software community lost a person who enabled thousands of people to contribute efficiently to software freedom. We regret that he was not able to live longer with his beloved turtles, finishing his plans for a vacuum robot that could clean stairways, fixing bugs, implementing new features for the users of his software, and being here with us.
Raphael: For his remarkable contributions to software freedom the European SFS Award 2024 goes posthumously to Bram Moolenaar, the creator of Vi IMproved -- or VIM.
Matthias: So, please join us in a big round of applause for Bram Moolenaar.