Richard Stallman — "The purpose of free software is to give users freedom, not to make software popu…"
The purpose of free software is to give users freedom, not to make software popular.
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More from Richard Stallman
"I'm not a communist. I believe in freedom."
"It's stupidity. It's worse than stupidity: it's a marketing hype campaign. … Somebody is saying this is inevitable – and whenever you hear somebody saying that, it's very likely to be a set of busines…"
"We must stand up for our freedom in the digital age."
"I don't use a webcam. I don't want to be watched."
"If programmers deserve to be rewarded for creating innovative programs, by the same token they deserve to be punished if they restrict the use of these programs."
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'.