and unable to change it. A free operating system is essential for people to be able to use computers in freedom”.As a staff hacker at MIT, Stallman criticized restricted computer access in the lab. He was so adamant in his objection that he broke a newly-installed password system, reset the passwords to null strings, and informed users of the removal. This, coupled with a problem caused by a printer with an unmodified code resulted in Stallman becoming "convinced . . . of the ethical need to require free software".
With that "ethical need" in mind, the GNU Project came to be. Stallman decided to work on an operating system, considering it to be "the crucial software to se a computer". The GNU/Linux system uses Torvalds' Linux kernel, with distribution under "copyleft", a copyright law that allows the use, modification, copy, and distribution of software.
RMS still promotes the concept of free software and actively works against organizations such as Digital Rights Management, through Free Software Foundation and League for Programming Freedom.
Comment Preview