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Richard Matthew Stallman (rms): Free Software Foundation (SFS) Ariunaa Bayarsaikhan Comp 1631 Winter 2011 Richard Stallman Was born in 1953 in New York city Started writing programs while in high school Graduated from Harvard earning a BA in Physics in 1974 Became a programmer in MIT Artificial Intelligence (AI) Laboratory while doing his BA in Harvard Enrolled as a graduate student in Physics at MIT Abandoned his pursuit of a doctorate in physics in favor of programming His Career in MIT AI Lab Joined MIT June 1971 Became a regular in the hacker community there Published a paper on an AI truth maintenance system (while a graduate student) which was still the most general and powerful form of intelligent backtracking as of 2003 Worked on software projects such as Emacs, TECO and Lisp Machine Operating System In the early 1980’s the hacker community began to fragment Quit his job at MIT in 1984 Copyright and restrictive software licenses In 1980, Stallman and other hackers at AI Lab were refused access to the source code of the first laser printer, the Xerox 9700 Stallman had modified the software on an older printer, so it electronically messaged a user when the person's job was printed, and would message all logged-in users when the printer was jammed. Thanks to a few additional lines of software code, AI Lab employees could eliminate the 10 or 15 minutes wasted each week in running back and forth to check on the printer. Free speech vs. Free beer Not being able to do this to the new printer was a major inconvenience as the printer was on a different floor from most of the users. By the 1980s, almost all software was propriety. Propriety means that it has owners who forbid and prevent cooperation by users. This made the GNU Project necessary. The ultimate goal is to provide free software to do all of the jobs computer users want to do—and thus make proprietary software obsolete. GNU (for Gnu’s Not Unix) The printer access code incident convinced him that people should have the freedom to modify the software they use. In September 1983 Stallman announced GNU project on Usenet newsgroup net.unix-wizards “Starting this Thanksgiving I am going to write a complete Unix-compatible software system called GNU (for Gnu's Not Unix), and give it away free to everyone who can use it. Contributions of time, money, programs and equipment are greatly needed.” "GNU will be able to run Unix programs, but will not be identical to Unix. … We will make all improvements that are convenient, based on our experience with other operating systems." GNU project GNU operating system is a complete free software system, upward-compatible with Unix You may or may not pay a price to get GNU software but once you have the software you have 4 specific freedoms in using it GNU is compatible with Unix because the overall design was already proven and portable, and compatibility makes it easy for Unix users to switch from Unix to GNU. Free as in Freedom (run, copy, distribute, study, change, improve) The word “free” in “free software” pertains to freedom, not price. Freedom 0. The freedom to run the program, for any purpose. Freedom 1. The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs. (Access to the source code is a precondition for this.) Freedom 2. The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor. Freedom 3. The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits. (Access to the source code is a precondition for this.) GNU project GNU incorporated longer file names, file version numbers, and a crash-proof file system. Includes kernel, compilers, editors, text formatters, mail software, and many other things. Linux, a Unix-like kernel, was developed by Linus Torvalds in 1991 Richard Stallman created a new multi-language, multiplatform compiler Kernel in GNU system - - - Linux is the kernel the program in the system that allocates the machine's resources to the other programs that you run. an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Founded by Rms on 4 October 1985 A tax-exempt charity for free software development Income: Distribution of Emacs tape and free software and of other related services (e.g.: CD-ROMs of source code, CD-ROMs with binaries, manuals) Income: Funding from members’ dues The FSF holds copyright on a large proportion of the GNU operating system, and other free software. The FSF publishes the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL), the world's most popular free software license The FSF campaigns for free software adoption and against proprietary software GNU General Public License The first copyleft license for general use Grants the recipients of a computer program the rights of the free software definition and uses copyleft to ensure the freedoms are preserved, even when the work is changed or added to Copying and distributing the license is allowed since the GPL requires recipients get "a copy of this License along with the Program" Copyleft A play on the word “copyright” The right to distribute copies and modified versions of a work and requiring that the same rights be preserved in modified versions of the work. Richard talking about OpenSource and St. iGNUcius Richard Stallman: “Open Source misses the point” CURRENT CAMPAGINS Windows 7 sins PlayOgg End Software Patents Campaign for OpenDocument High Priority for Free Software Projects Libre Planet Free BIOS Campaign GNU - - Millions of people are using GNU every day to edit their documents browse the web play games handle their email as part of a GNU/Linux system on their home computer. Even people who have never heard of it use GNU everyday, because it powers many of the sites they visit and services they use. You can make a contribution by joining the FSF as an associate member, making tax-deductible donation and volunteering your time. References: www.fsf.org www.gnu.org http://oreilly.com/openbook/freedom/ http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/osrc/article.php/120 68_3717476_2/Interview-with-Richard-Stallman-FourEssential-Freedoms.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSZZraHN0Yg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S76pHIYx3ik&feature =related