- In full:
- Richard Matthew Stallman
- Founder:
- Free Software Foundation
- Subjects Of Study:
- C
- Linux
- operating system
Richard Stallman
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Who is Richard Stallman?
Richard Stallman, born on March 16, 1953, is an American computer programmer and free-software advocate. In 1985, he founded the Free Software Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes open-source software.
Stallman began working at MIT's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in 1971 and in 1983, he started the GNU Project, aiming to create a free version of AT&Tās UNIX. As one of the last of the "hackers," he strongly advocated for freely modifying and sharing computer code. In 1999, he published a paper calling for an open-source encyclopedia, which led to the merger of his GNUpedia project with Nupedia, the predecessor to Wikipedia. Stallman resigned from MIT and the Free Software Foundation in September 2019.
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What is Richard Stallman known for in the world of computers?
Richard Stallman is an American computer programmer and free-software advocate known for founding the Free Software Foundation in 1985. He began the GNU Project in 1983 to create a free version of AT&T's UNIX operating system. Stallman wrote the GNU Emacs editor, GNU compiler, and GNU debugger. The GNU utilities, combined with the kernel developed by Linus Torvalds, resulted in the GNU/Linux, or Linux, operating system in 1994. Stallman also promoted the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL), or copyleft agreement, allowing modification of works without releasing them to the public domain.
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What is free software, and how did Richard Stallman support it?
Free software ensures users can control their software, allowing them to study, modify, and share it without restrictions. The free-software movement began in 1983, when Richard Stallman started the GNU Project and then, in 1985, launched the Free Software Foundation (FSF).
Stallman, a computer programmer and free-software advocate, aimed to create a free operating system and promote software freedom through the FSF. The foundation supports free software development and the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL), a copyleft agreement that allows software modification while ensuring the same freedoms are maintained in derivative works.
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What is the GNU Project, and why did Richard Stallman start it?
The GNU Project is a free operating system project started by Richard Stallman in 1983. The name "GNU" is a recursive acronym for "GNU's not UNIX".
Stallman, a programmer at MIT, launched the GNU Project because he was frustrated with the increasing commercialization of software in the early 1980s. Companies were blocking access to source codes, which impeded Stallman's ability to fix and improve them. He believed that proprietary software should be publicly opposed, so he aimed to create a completely free UNIX-like operating system. In 1985, Stallman delivered the "GNU Manifesto" outlining his program, formed the Free Software Foundation, and launched the free software movement.
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How did Richard Stallman help create the idea of software licenses like the GPL?
Richard Stallman, a programmer and free-software advocate, significantly contributed to the concept of software licenses like the GNU General Public License (GPL), also known as a copyleft agreement.
Driven by his belief in freely modifying and sharing code, Stallman founded the GNU Project in 1984 and the Free Software Foundation in 1985. He wrote the GPL to legally require anyone distributing code to make available their modifications and distributed works. This effort aimed to codify the hacker ethos, ensuring software could be modified without being released to the public domain. By the end of the century, the GPL was the license of choice for approximately half of all open-source projects.
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How has Richard Stallman's work affected the way people share and use software today?
Richard Stallman's work has profoundly shaped how software is shared and used today. As a staunch advocate for free software, he founded the Free Software Foundation in 1985 and initiated the GNU Project to create a free UNIX-like operating system.
Stallman also created the GNU General Public License (GPL), or copyleft agreement, which allows software to be freely modified and shared, so long as the finished product remains under the same restrictions. This concept ensures that software remains open and accessible for all to use and improve. Stallman's philosophy has greatly influenced the open-source movement, promoting collaboration, transparency, and community-driven innovation in software development and beyond.
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Richard Stallman (born March 16, 1953, New York, New York, U.S.) is an American computer programmer and free-software advocate who founded (1985) the Free Software Foundation.
Stallman earned a bachelorās degree in physics from Harvard University in 1974. In 1971, as a freshman at Harvard, he had begun working at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (later Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). There he wrote the Emacs text editor in the C computer programming language with James Gosling (who later developed Java).
In 1983 Stallman began working in his personal time on his GNU Project, or GNU operating system. GNU was intended to be a free version of AT&Tās UNIX, and the name GNU was created as a recursive acronym of GNUās not UNIX. One of the last of the āhackers,ā computer programmers who strongly believed in freely modifying and sharing computer code, Stallman left MIT in 1984 over concerns about changes to the universityās software copyright rules; however, he later returned as a visiting scientist. In 1985 Stallman created the nonprofit Free Software Foundation, which initially focused on supporting his GNU Project. In 1990 he was awarded a MacArthur fellowship, the so-called āgenius awardā that gives recipients a substantial financial stipend with no strings attached. The award helped free Stallman to write various utilities for the GNU Project, such as the GNU Emacs editor, GNU compiler, and GNU debugger, which would later be combined with the kernel developed by Linus Torvalds, a Finnish computer science student, to produce the GNU/Linux, or Linux, operating system in 1994. Stallmanās GNU Emacs Manual, which has gone through numerous revisions, is freely available from the GNU Web site.
With the release of a free operating system, Stallman and the Free Software Foundation focused on promoting free software and the development of the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL), commonly known as a copyleft agreement, which gives authors a way to allow their works to be modified without releasing them to the public domain.
In 1999 Stallman published āThe Free Universal Encyclopedia and Learning Resource,ā a paper calling for the creation of an open-source encyclopaedia. Almost as soon as he set up the GNUpedia Project, another open-source encyclopaedia project, Nupedia, the predecessor of Wikipedia, appeared and adopted the GNU Free Documentation License, so the work on the GNUpedia Project was merged into Nupedia.
True to his hacker roots, Stallman continued to promote free software around the world, though he had limited success in convincing governments to move completely to free software. He was one of the principal people interviewed and profiled in the 2001 documentary Revolution OS by American director J.T.S. Moore.
In September 2019 Stallman attracted controversy after attempting to discredit an alleged victim of Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender. Later that month Stallman resigned from MIT and the Free Software Foundation.
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