Stallman

Richard Matthew Stallman (born March 16, 1953) is an American software freedom activist and programmer. He launched the GNU Project in 1983 to create a completely free Unix‑like operating system, and founded the Free Software Foundation (FSF) in 1985 to support the movement and to promote free software licenses.

Stallman authored the GNU General Public License (GPL), a copyleft license that requires that software released under it remain free, and his work helped establish the concept of free software as a social movement. The GNU project produced a large collection of software and tools forming the basis of what many users know as a free operating system, including the GNU Emacs editor and the GNU toolchain.

In addition to his organizational roles, Stallman has been a prolific writer and advocate for user freedom in software. He has been associated for much of his career with the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, where he contributed to the development and promotion of free software principles.

In 2019 he resigned from leadership positions at the FSF and the GNU Project after public criticism of his comments on a sexual assault case. Since then, his status within the free software community has been the subject of ongoing debate; supporters emphasize his influence on software freedom, while critics point to his public statements on social issues.