Richard Stallman
Founder of the free software movement and the GNU Project.
Most quoted
"Calling it 'intellectual property' is a propaganda term designed to confuse people into thinking that the various different laws that restrict what you can do with information are all one thing, and that they all have the same moral basis."
— from Various speeches
"I could have made money this way, and perhaps amused myself writing code. But I knew that at the end of my career, I would look back on years of building walls to divide people, and feel I had spent my life making the world a worse place."
— from The GNU Project
"My work on free software is motivated by an idealistic goal: spreading freedom and cooperation. I want to encourage free software to spread, replacing proprietary software that forbids cooperation, and thus make our society better."
— from Essays
All quotes by Richard Stallman (373)
The free software movement is a fight for control over our own computing.
We must not confuse 'open source' with 'free software'. They are different ideas.
If you want to be free, you must use free software.
The free software movement is a long-term struggle.
The free software movement is about creating a better society.
If anything is going to be free, it has to be free software.
I'm not a Luddite. I'm a freedom fighter.
The 'cloud' is a trap. It's a way to get you to give up your freedom.
Copyleft is a method for making a program free, and requiring all modified and extended versions of the program to be free as well.
Calling it 'open source' is like calling a car 'open hood.' It doesn't tell you anything about the freedom of the car.
If you're not paying for it, you're not the customer; you're the product being sold.
I consider the term 'intellectual property' to be a propaganda term.
The idea of 'intellectual property' is a distraction from the real issues of freedom and control.
Using proprietary software is like letting a stranger control your life.
The only way to have freedom is to have control over your own computing.
If you value your freedom, you should reject proprietary software.
The internet is a wonderful tool, but it can also be a tool of oppression if we're not careful.
I'm not against progress, I'm against progress that takes away our freedom.
The term 'digital rights management' is a euphemism for 'digital restrictions management.'
If a program is not free, it is a threat to your freedom.
Contemporaries of Richard Stallman
Other Computer Sciences born within 50 years of Richard Stallman (1953).