Richard Stallman — "I decided not to have children. (...) Not having children is an important contri…"
I decided not to have children. (...) Not having children is an important contribution to humanity. My decision probably reduced the 2050 population by 5 to 10 people.
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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'.
Details
Goodreads quotes, reflecting on his life decisions and their impact.