Richard Stallman — "The purpose of the free software movement is to ensure that users have freedom."
The purpose of the free software movement is to ensure that users have freedom.
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More from Richard Stallman
"Once GNU is written, everyone will be able to obtain good system software free, just like air."
"Calling proprietary software 'open source' is like calling a prison 'open architecture.'"
"Value your freedom or you will lose it, teaches history. 'Don't bother us with politics,' respond those who don't want to learn."
"It sounds horrible: “UN peacekeepers accused of child rape in South Sudan.” But the article makes it pretty clear that the “children” involved were not children. They were teenagers."
"I wish I could say that I was a prophet, but I'm not. I'm just an ordinary person who sees what's going to happen."
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'.