Richard Stallman turns 60 this Saturday , March16th, 2013. At the origin of the Free Software movement, about thirty years ago, he is the founder of the GNU Project [3] and of the Free Software Foundation [4]. Today, Richard Stallman is still a tireless activist for Free Software, whose philosophy he defines in three words: « Liberty, Equality, Fraternity [5] »1
In the introduction to the book Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman [6] Lawrence Lessig wrote “Every generation has its philosopher—a writer or an artist who captures the imagination of a time. Sometimes these philosophers are recognized as such; often it takes generations before the connection is made real. But recognized or not, a time gets marked by the people who speak its ideals, whether in the whisper of a poem, or the blast of a political movement. Our generation has a philosopher. He is not an artist, or a professional writer. He is a programmer.”
April is pleased to have been working with Richard Stallman for almost seventeen years, and we wish him a happy birthday.
To learn more about Richard Stallman, you can visit his personal Web site [7], the philosophy page of the GNU Project [8], read the books Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman, second edition [6] and Free as in Freedom [9] (the latter coauthored with Sam Williams and available in French, as Richard Stallman et la révolution du logiciel libre : Une biographie autorisée [10]).
Translation of the French original version by : Thibaut, Tanguy, Jeanne.
- 1. Read the transcript of his speech "Free Software and Education." [11]. « Liberty, Equality, Fraternity » is the France's national motto.