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Interview hakin9 1/2007 I wish I could be the World LiberatorInterview with Richard Stallman
We present an interview with Richard Matthew Stallman (frequently abbreviated to RMS), the founder of the free software movement, the GNU Project, the Free Software Foundation, and the League for Programming Freedom. An acclaimed hacker, his major accomplishments include the original Emacs (and a decade later GNU Emacs), the GNU C Compiler, and the GNU Debugger. He is also the author of the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or GPL), the most widely used free software license, which pioneered the concept of the copyleft.
hakin9 team:Why did you start Free Software Foundation? Richard Stallman: When I started developing the GNU operating system, in 1984, the first parts I worked on were not interesting on their own; they were replacements for parts of Unix, necessary parts of the job of replacing all of Unix, but Unix users already had similar programs. In 1985 I released GNU Emacs. Unix did not include anything like that, and the other Emacs editors then available to run on Unix were not as good. Users wanted to run on GNU Emacs on Unix systems, and it showed that GNU was more than just vaporware. I concluded that it might be possible to raise funds for development of GNU. So I set up a tax-exempt organization to receive donations and give donors a tax deduction. That was in October 1985. The original Free Software Foundation operates in the US. There are now several sister organizations, also called Free Software Foundations, which operate in other parts of the world, including FSF Europe (fsfeurope.org). (We start a Free Software Foundation in a region when the community there has time-tested activists who can be its leaders.) There are many other free software organizations of other kinds; dozens at least. All are part of the free software community, and their aim is to make that community stronger so as to spread freedom for computer users throughout cyberspace. h9: What is the status of FSF today? RS: We are still here, but our work is different nowadays. In the 80s, the FSF's main activity was funding development of parts of the GNU system. Nowadays we don't do that, because others do so much free software development that a few FSF staff programmers would be a tiny increment. Instead we do things that others don't do (see below). h9: How do you find sponsors and supporters, what are FSF goals for the future? How a private users and companies can support FSF? RS: The FSF looks for support through our web sites, through articles and speeches, and through tables at events, and any other way we can publicize the cause. Our overall goal is to bring freedom to software users; our specific activities today include:
The most obvious way for an individual to help us is by becoming an associate member (see fsf.org). But there are many volunteer activities you could help with. You could volunteer to program for a GNU package, but there are many other ways to volunteer that don't involve programming. See www.gnu.org/help for a long list of suggestions. h9: Could you tell us something more about creating GNU project? RS: Most operating systems were developed for technical motives or commercial motives. The GNU operating system (www.gnu.org) is the only one (as far as I know) developed for an ethical, political motive: to win freedom for computer users. The computer is useless without an operating system, and in 1983 all the operating systems for modern computers were proprietary (non-free) software. The user of a proprietary program is under the power of the program's developer. The only way for the user to have freedom is to escape from proprietary programs - which means, either stop using computers, or use them entirely with free software. In 1983, the former option was the only possible one, but I did not like it much. So I set out to develop an operating system that would be entirely free software. That would make it possible to choose the second option; possible for me, and possible for you. Today the GNU operating system is widely used, but most of its users don't know it is GNU; they think it is Linux. Linux is actually a kernel that was developed by Linus Torvalds in 1991, and made free software in 1992. At the time, GNU was nearly complete, all except the kernel. Linux filled that gap, and the combination, GNU with Linux added, is the system that has caught on ever since. When users call the whole system Linux, they think it was all developed by Linus Torvalds, a man who publicly denounces the idea of defending users' freedom. Thus, this error is not merely unfair to the thousands of people who have worked on developing GNU since 1984. It is leads users to follow a leader who will lead them in the wrong direction. You can help correct the user simply by calling the system GNU/Linux (i.e., the combination of GNU and Linux). See http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html for more explanation about this. h9: What is your opinion about companies which use free software, but don't support the development of it by donating money, infrastructure? RS: Everyone is welcome to use free software. To use it without contributing, if you have the means to contribute is stingy, but not really evil. What is really wrong is to use non-free software and fail to press the development of its free replacement. That perpetuates the system of domination that proprietary software imposes on its users. h9: Is free software secure? RS: I am not a security expert, and security is not my main concern. However, others that know more about computer security than I do say you should not trust any software to provide security if it isn't free, or at least close to it. The deep reason for this is that when software is not free, its developer controls it. If you use that software, its developer has power over what happens when you use it. With free software, the users are in control; what they want, they get, whether it be security or whatever else. h9: You are a mastermind, you could be the second Bill Gates. RS: It is a mistake to think Gates and I are similar. I am, or at least was when I was younger, a great operating system developer. Gates was never particularly good at that; I think I could out-program him with one hand tied behind my back. On the other hand, Gates is a cunning businessman with a talent for spotting ways to gain power over society. There is no reason to suppose I am particularly good at running a business. If I had tried to compete with Gates, I'd probably have been a total flop. But I never tried, and never wanted to try, to compete with Gates for the post of World Dominator - because I don't believe there ought to be one. I wish I could be the World Liberator. I'm not the world's greatest freedom fighter, but I do think I can liberate a substantial part of the world in one aspect of life. h9: You would have been able to start your own multinational, but instead you work focused on your projects, gaining prestige awards and being indifferent on corporations proposals. Why did you choose this way, if you could be one of the richest man in the world? What are the upcoming events connected with FSF and Gnu?
RS: Our work usually doesn't consist of events, and in the past I would not have been able to answer. At present, I can. We are working towards release of GPL version 3 either in October or January. We also have events in the sense of activities: protest events against DRM. These are in the US, but people could talk with FSF Europe (fsfeurope.org) and perhaps organize such activities anywhere else.
Interview by Marta Ogonek |
 
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