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
"Future Change Warning: Proposed Federal censorship regulations may prohibit us from giving you information about the possibility of calling this function. We would be required to say that this is not …"
"I don't use a computer that isn't running entirely free software."
"I don't believe in intellectual property."
"Proprietary software is a tool of oppression."
"Using proprietary software is like living under a dictatorship."
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'.