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| | '''Richard Matthew Stallman''' (born March 16, 1953), often known by his initials, '''rms''', is a [[software freedom]] activist and [[computer programmer]]. | | '''Richard Matthew Stallman''' (born March 16, 1953), often known by his initials, '''rms''', is a [[software freedom]] activist and [[computer programmer]]. |
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| − | (TO DO: clean up stray tags.)
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| − | == Life ==
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| − | He campaigns for software to be distributed in a manner such that its users receive the freedoms to use, study, distribute and modify that software. Software that ensures these freedoms is termed [[free software]]. Stallman launched the [[GNU Project]], founded the [[Free Software Foundation]], developed the [[GNU Compiler Collection]] and [[GNU Emacs]], and wrote the [[GNU General Public License]].
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| − | Stallman launched the GNU Project in September 1983 to create a [[Unix-like]] computer [[operating system]] composed entirely of free software.<ref name="initialgnu"/> With this, he also launched the [[free software movement]]. He has been the GNU project's lead architect and organizer, and developed a number of pieces of widely used GNU software including, among others, the GNU Compiler Collection,<ref name="gcc-contribs"/> the [[GNU Debugger]]<ref name="RIT"/> and the GNU Emacs text editor.<ref name="multic"/> In October 1985<ref name="fsfbio"/> he founded the Free Software Foundation.
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| − | Stallman pioneered the concept of [[copyleft]], which uses the principles of copyright law to preserve the right to use, modify and distribute free software, and is the main author of [[free software license]]s which describe those terms, most notably the GNU General Public License (GPL), the most widely used free software license.<ref name="wheeler"/>
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| − | In 1989 he co-founded the [[League for Programming Freedom]]. Since the mid-1990s, Stallman has spent most of his time advocating for free software, as well as campaigning against [[software patent debate|software patent]]s, [[digital rights management]], and other legal and technical systems which he sees as taking away users' freedoms, including [[End-user license agreement|software license agreements]], [[non-disclosure agreement]]s, [[Product activation|activation keys]], [[Software protection dongle|dongles]], [[Copy protection|copy restriction]], [[proprietary format]]s and [[Binary file|binary]] [[executable]]s without [[source code]].
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| − | {{As of|2014}}, he has received fifteen [[honorary doctorate]]s and professorships (see [[#Honors and awards|Honors and awards]]).
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| | == See also == | | == See also == |
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| | * [http://news.slashdot.org/story/15/09/09/2252212/interviews-rms-answers-your-questions Interviews: RMS Answers Your Questions] @ Slashdot | | * [http://news.slashdot.org/story/15/09/09/2252212/interviews-rms-answers-your-questions Interviews: RMS Answers Your Questions] @ Slashdot |
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| | + | [[Category:Computer programmers]] |
| | [[Category:Intellectual property]] | | [[Category:Intellectual property]] |
| | [[Category:People]] | | [[Category:People]] |
