Bruce Perens: Richard Stallman "Has Achieved His Goal"
8 hours ago Bruce Perens wrote in social control media:
Has Richard Stallman Won?In 1983, Richard Stallman announced what would become GNU project, and it's raison d'être:
"I consider that the golden rule requires that if I like a program I must share it with other people who like it. I cannot in good conscience sign a nondisclosure agreement or a software license agreement.
So that I can continue to use computers without violating my principles, I have decided to put together a sufficient body of free software so that I will be able to get along without any software that is not free."
It's important to note that this does not mention Copyleft at all. That came later, and most importantly, was a means to reach the goal, rather than the goal itself. Note that "free software" isn't even capitalized in this early message.
The advent of AI and its capability to create software quickly, with human guidance, means that we can probably have almost anything we want as Free Software. If that comes to pass, Richard has achieved his goal, even if AI makes Copyleft (and software licensing as a whole) irrelevant.
Stallman's next talk is tomorrow and then, finally, he has one in Bern later in the week. The following page was added some hours ago:
That the FSF advertises all his recent talks is noteworthy. Not only did he "return" to the FSF (he was always there, all along); this past year they've raised a lot of money. █
Image source: Bruce Perens