Richard Stallman — "Proprietary software is an attack on our freedom."
Proprietary software is an attack on our freedom.
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
"We need to reclaim our digital freedom."
"In practice, the copyright system does a bad job of supporting authors, aside from the most popular ones."
"Proprietary software is a form of digital enslavement."
"'Breakfast'? Is that the thing some people eat in the 'morning'?"
"People said I should accept the world. Bullshit! I don't accept the world."
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'.