According to TheRegister.com, Jean-Baptiste Kempf just received the European SFS Award 2025 from the Free Software Foundation Europe for his nearly two decades of work maintaining VLC Media Player. The award was presented at the South Tyrol Free Software Conference in Bolzano, Italy last week. Kempf took over the project in 2006 when it risked collapse after the original development team graduated. He’s famously turned down numerous opportunities to monetize VLC through advertising or other means that would have made him wealthy but compromised the software’s integrity. The project started in 1996 as a student initiative at École Centrale Paris and now boasts over 1,000 contributors. Kempf established Videolabs in 2012 specifically to support VLC’s ongoing development.
The ethics of staying free
Here’s the thing about Kempf’s achievement: he didn’t just keep VLC running. He kept it clean. In an era where “free” software often means “we’ll monetize your data” or “enjoy these unremovable toolbars,” VLC remains remarkably pure. The guy had multiple opportunities to cash out—we’re talking life-changing money—and he consistently said no. How many other popular applications can claim that level of commitment to their users?
I think there’s something quietly revolutionary about maintaining this stance since 2006. That’s nearly twenty years of saying “no” to the easy money. While other projects got acquired, went subscription-only, or loaded up with tracking, VLC just kept playing everything you threw at it. No questions asked, no strings attached.
From student project to global phenomenon
The VLC origin story is wonderfully chaotic. It began as part of a larger streaming system called VideoLAN Server, with VLC originally standing for VideoLAN Client. The students tested early versions using a 20-minute clip of GoldenEye—hence that becoming the codename for VLC 1.0.x. And yes, they apparently wanted to play Doom over the network links too, because of course they did.
Now it’s a recursive acronym officially meaning “VLC Media Player,” which is honestly a bit misleading since it’s evolved into a full-featured streaming tool that absorbed most of its server counterpart’s functionality. The traffic cone icon? That comes from the ECP student association’s tradition of collecting street furniture while drunk. Basically, VLC’s entire history is exactly the kind of delightful nonsense you’d expect from a project that prioritizes principles over profits.
What this means for free software
Kempf’s award recognition comes at an interesting time for open source. We’re seeing more projects struggle with sustainability while trying to maintain their ideals. His approach—setting up Videolabs specifically to fund development without compromising the product—might offer a template for others.
Look, free software doesn’t mean worthless software. VLC proves that better than almost anything else out there. It’s the Swiss Army knife of media players, running on everything from ancient laptops to modern smartphones, handling formats that make other players choke. And it achieves all this while remaining completely transparent about its development through resources like the VideoLAN wiki.
The real question is whether other projects can follow this model without someone as principled as Kempf at the helm. Because let’s be honest—most of us would have taken the money years ago.
