Dear Fellow humans,

Good morning.

As human beings, we all grow up with some heroes. Right?

The heroes could be your parents who help you solve every problem in life.

The hero could be a cartoon figure like the Ultraman who has super power and does good deeds.

The hero could be a person who changed our view of the universe, like Einstein.

The hero could be a person who changed our view of human being, like Darwin.

Today, I am going to introduce you a living hero, a man from Boston who has been fighting for our software freedom almost 40 years.

His name is Richard Stallman, also known as rms.

Who of you had a computer 40 years ago? Or may 30 years ago, or 20 years ago? 10?

What is the operating system of your computer?

Is it windows? Is it the only operating system you know? Operating system is the first software you need when you could use a computer.

30 years ago, I did not have a computer, but as a student I had an account in our Institute’s computer system. The operating system was UNIX.

Have you ever heard of UNIX? Ok, I am confident to continue.

In 1970s, when Richard Stallman was a student in MIT, he did not use UNIX but the MIT AI lab’s own operating system. At that time, Richard enjoyed a culture of sharing

• when you see some one is using a software that you are interested you can ask for it and you will get the source code. You study the software and make changes to the software, and you can give it back to the people, and they would love to have it improved.

In 1980s, things changed a lot. Almost all software was proprietary. When MIT AI lab got a new printer, the driver is proprietary software. When there is a paper jam, it will not inform the users by mail and Richard Stallman could not help because he had no access to the source code. UNIX is proprietary software, which means people have to sign NDA to use it and promise not to share even the binary form of the software with others.

What would you do under this situation?

Richard Stallman thought a lot: he could work as other developers developing proprietary software, and made a fortune. But he did not want that; he could leave the software indusry and his talent would be wasted; at last, he made the decision to develop software like in 1970s, which people can run, study, edit and share. This is what we call now free software.

Richard Stallman started the Free Software movement all by himself.

Which software should be developed first for you to use a computer?

Yes, it is the operating system. Richard Stallman planned to develop a UNIX compatible operating system.

He called it GNU.

GNU mean GNU’s Not Unix! Do you see the humor in it? The name of the system, GNU, is a recursive acronym—a way of paying tribute to the technical ideas of Unix, while at the same time saying that GNU is something different. That’s the culture of hacker community.

By the way, hacker is not cracker. Hackers are people who play with cleverness. Crackers are criminals who break into other people’s security systems. There may be some overlap between them, but Richard Stallman and many others belongs to real hackers - they love technology and freedom.

The primary and continuing goal of GNU is to offer a Unix-compatible system that would be 100% free software. Not 95% free, not 99.5%, but 100%. Technically, GNU is like Unix. But unlike Unix, GNU gives its users freedom.

The birth of GNU means the start of free software movement. At that time, not many people believed in Richard Stallman, they would say something like free software had no economic ground. However, Richard Stallman boldly moved forward single-handedly. Because Richard Stallman developed some really good GNU software, like GNU Emacs, and people liked to use, and some people started to follow. The Free Software community began to grow.

In 1990s, almost all the components of GNU operating system were developed. This only thing missing is the kernel. Then there is another hacker Linus Towards from Finland, who developed the Linux kernel and made it free software. The combination of the almost complete GNU system and the Linux kernel results in complete operating system.

That is the GNU/Linux system, in short GNU system.

Today, Richard Stallman is still fighting for the users computing freedom. However, this is no longer a one man’s fight. Today, after 37 years of GNU project, tens of millions of people now use GNU/Linux systems, a free operating system from GNU and free software community. This means the original plan works.

Do you still have doubt about Free Software?

But in many ways, free software is only just getting started, as the technological landscape endlessly shifts and new threats – and opportunities – emerge. The free software community pledge to match all the commitment, along with all of the hard work, there is plenty of joy and fun to be had along the way to the goal: a world where all software is free, forever.

How far can free software go? There are no limits.

Dear fellow humans, I feel fortunate that I have learned that we can have control over our own computation from Richard Stallman, the Free Software hero, in my time. I am glad I could contribute to a world where all software is free.

This is the story of one man’s fight for Free Software, a story of a hero.

Dear fellow humans, have you ever found your hero? I see something in you.

Thank you.