Richard Stallman — "The only way to have ethical software is to have free software."
The only way to have ethical software is to have free software.
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More from Richard Stallman
"The ultimate goal is to make all software free."
"The cloud is a trap."
"Calling it 'open source' is like calling freedom 'openness'."
"Copyright should protect authors, not corporations."
"The idea that music is private property took hold in the digital age, but it is an absurd and unjust idea."
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'.