Difference between revisions of "Richard Stallman"

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: "''The hacker ethic refers to the feelings of right and wrong, to the ethical ideas this community of people had -- that knowledge should be shared with other people who can benefit from it, and that important resources should be utilized rather than wasted.''" - Richard Stallman, [http://oikos.org/ecology/freeinte.htm MEME 2.04], 1996.
: "''The hacker ethic refers to the feelings of right and wrong, to the ethical ideas this community of people had -- that knowledge should be shared with other people who can benefit from it, and that important resources should be utilized rather than wasted.''" - Richard Stallman, [http://oikos.org/ecology/freeinte.htm MEME 2.04], 1996.


The last of the true hackers, [http://www.stallman.org/ Richard Matthew Stallman] was born in New York City in 1953. He joined the group of hackers at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (AI Lab) in 1971.
The "last of the true hackers", [http://www.stallman.org/ Richard Matthew Stallman] was born in New York City in 1953. He joined the group of hackers at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (AI Lab) in 1971.


In 1984, Stallman started the influential GNU project to develop a free operating system called GNU. GNU is compatible with Unix, and the name GNU stands for "GNU's Not Unix", to emphasize that it is like Unix but not Unix. Today millions of people use a version of GNU, though often referring to it as Linux, which is actually the name of the operating system kernel, published under the GNU General Public License (as are many of the other software packages usually distributed with the Linux kernel).
In 1984, Stallman started the influential GNU project to develop a free operating system called GNU. GNU is compatible with Unix, and the name GNU stands for "GNU's Not Unix", to emphasize that it is like Unix but not Unix. Today millions of people use a version of GNU, though often referring to it as Linux, which is actually the name of the operating system kernel, published under the GNU General Public License (as are many of the other software packages usually distributed with the Linux kernel).
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Stallman resigned from the MIT AI Lab to start GNU, so that MIT would not be able to claim the copyright on the GNU software, but the university was kind enough to let him use their computers. In 1985, Stallman founded the Free Software Foundation as a tax-exempt charity for development of [http://www.fsf.org/licensing/essays/free-sw.html free software]. Interestingly, much of the FSF funding comes from the sale of CDROM's containing copies of the FSF software.
Stallman resigned from the MIT AI Lab to start GNU, so that MIT would not be able to claim the copyright on the GNU software, but the university was kind enough to let him use their computers. In 1985, Stallman founded the Free Software Foundation as a tax-exempt charity for development of [http://www.fsf.org/licensing/essays/free-sw.html free software]. Interestingly, much of the FSF funding comes from the sale of CDROM's containing copies of the FSF software.


Most GNU software is distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPL), sometimes called a copyleft. The GNU GPL enables others to copy, distribute, and make changes to software, as long as they don't prevent others from doing the same thing. This well thought out legal license has been incorporated in a wide range of software from operating systems to games by people all over the world.
Most GNU software is distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPL), sometimes called a copyleft, the first [http://freeopensourcesoftware.org Free Open Source Software] license, and the primary influence on all later developments in the field. The GNU GPL enables others to copy, distribute, and make changes to software, as long as they don't prevent others from doing the same thing. This well thought out legal license has been incorporated in a wide range of software from operating systems to games by people all over the world.


Stallman has also developed the GNU EMACS text editor, GNU symbolic debugger (GDB), and GNU C compiler.  He has received the following awards and distinctions:
Stallman has also developed the GNU EMACS text editor, GNU symbolic debugger (GDB), and GNU C compiler.  He has received the following awards and distinctions:

Revision as of 13:19, 13 February 2011

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"The hacker ethic refers to the feelings of right and wrong, to the ethical ideas this community of people had -- that knowledge should be shared with other people who can benefit from it, and that important resources should be utilized rather than wasted." - Richard Stallman, MEME 2.04, 1996.

The "last of the true hackers", Richard Matthew Stallman was born in New York City in 1953. He joined the group of hackers at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (AI Lab) in 1971.

In 1984, Stallman started the influential GNU project to develop a free operating system called GNU. GNU is compatible with Unix, and the name GNU stands for "GNU's Not Unix", to emphasize that it is like Unix but not Unix. Today millions of people use a version of GNU, though often referring to it as Linux, which is actually the name of the operating system kernel, published under the GNU General Public License (as are many of the other software packages usually distributed with the Linux kernel).

Stallman resigned from the MIT AI Lab to start GNU, so that MIT would not be able to claim the copyright on the GNU software, but the university was kind enough to let him use their computers. In 1985, Stallman founded the Free Software Foundation as a tax-exempt charity for development of free software. Interestingly, much of the FSF funding comes from the sale of CDROM's containing copies of the FSF software.

Most GNU software is distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPL), sometimes called a copyleft, the first Free Open Source Software license, and the primary influence on all later developments in the field. The GNU GPL enables others to copy, distribute, and make changes to software, as long as they don't prevent others from doing the same thing. This well thought out legal license has been incorporated in a wide range of software from operating systems to games by people all over the world.

Stallman has also developed the GNU EMACS text editor, GNU symbolic debugger (GDB), and GNU C compiler. He has received the following awards and distinctions:

  • 1991 -- Grace Hopper Award from the Association for Computing Machinery, for development of the first Emacs editor in the 1970s.
  • 1990 -- MacArthur Foundation fellowship, and $240,000 genius grant
  • 1996 -- Honorary doctorate from the Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden.
  • 1998 -- Electronic Frontier Foundation's Pioneer award, shared with Linus Torvalds
  • 1999 -- Yuri Rubinski Award.
  • 2001 -- Honorary doctorate from the University of Glasgow.
  • 2001 -- Takeda Award for Social/Economic Betterment, shared with Torvalds and Ken Sakamura.
  • 2002 -- Elected to the US National Academy of Engineering.