Richard Stallman in Mendoza, Argentina

To speak about free software is to say that freedom matters.

 

 

Richard Stallman, the father of free software, will be in Mendoza, Argentina. His talk which is open to the public will be held on May 24th at 5:30 pm at Auditorio Ángel Bustelo at 611 Peltier Street.

 

Richard Stallman started the Free Software movement in 1984 with a project called GNU – www.gnu.org. This software system is compatible with the operating system Unix and allow its users not only the freedom of executing, modifying and redistributing it, but also of making any kind of change.

 

This time, Mr. Stallman will talk about the goals and the philosophy of the Free Software movement as well as about the current situation and history of GNU operating system.

 

He has written many essays on free software as well as on its ethics, its practical application and the dangers it is exposed to.

 

‘I support the open code, which is understood as people just knowing how a program works, and also the free software. The difference lies in the fact that it’s an ethical matter for us. Proprietary software is not ethical as it doesn’t respect freedom and the open code doesn’t concern in it. If I’m the “father of the open code”, then it was conceived with “sperm” taken without my consent.’

 

He believes it is important that the users of a program have the four essential freedoms pursued by the movement. These are:

  • freedom 0, to run the program as you wish;
  • freedom 1, to study how the program works and, then, adapt it to your needs;
  • freedom 2, to help your neighbor by distributing copies of the program whenever needed; and
  • freedom 3, to help your community by distributing modified copies whenever you want.

 

‘None of these freedoms is compulsory. This means that the users are never forced to employ the four freedoms, but they can feel free to use any of them whenever they need.’

 

RMS also affirms that the movement can be compared with cooking recipes. ‘This analogy is useful because both are knowledge works. Cooks can change recipes freely. Now, imagine the State calls them pirates for doing so: this would be absurd. Cooks would certainly feel angry. This same anger was the spark which ignited the Free Software movement in us.’

 

Richard Stallman is worldwide known for establishing an ideological reference framework – moral, political and legal. He has also been a visionary who has revolutionized the world of new technologies by supporting the freedom of expression basic principles.

This movement has been gaining strength in the course of time and has set the bases for a political struggle. The validity of the movement will depend on teaching people about how dangerous it is a society which cannot control its own software and, especially, how dangerous it is a software controlling people through the use of their personal information.

 

The event is open to the public.                                            

 

For further information: http://matrproject.com/stallman/

 

References

 

Stallman, Richard (N.D.). «Richard Stallman’s 1983 biography». Richard Stallman’s homepage. (Published in the first edition of “The Hacker’s Dictionary”). Visited on November 20, 2008. «fckLR”Richard Stallman’ is just my mundane name; you can call me rms”»

 

Sources