Richard Stallman — "Calling it 'open source' is like calling freedom 'openness'."
Calling it 'open source' is like calling freedom 'openness'.
Get This Quote & Author's Image Illustrated On:
Click any product to generate a realistic preview. Up to 3 at a time.
* Initial load can take up to 90 seconds — revising the preview in another color is nearly instant.
Kitchen
Apparel
Other
More from Richard Stallman
"What's the best tool for twisting someone's neck? A torc wrench."
"The GNU GPL is not Mr. Nice Guy."
"The purpose of the free software movement is to ensure that users have freedom."
"When I say free software, I'm talking about freedom, not price."
"Perhaps we should implement a mode that puts cosmetics on Emacs so it will appeal to those who judge by the surface of things."
About Richard Stallman (born 1953)
American programmer who founded the Free Software Foundation and the GNU Project, whose copyleft GPL licensing made the modern Linux ecosystem possible. Closely associated with Linus Torvalds (Linux kernel creator who builds on GNU userland) and Eric S. Raymond (open-source advocate (The Cathedral and the Bazaar)). For an intellectual contrast, see Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder — Gates's 1976 Open Letter to Hobbyists arguing for software-as-property is the foundational document Stallman's GPL was specifically written to refute — the two opposing answers to 'who owns the code'.