Stallman Mathew Richard

Richard Matthew Stallman

Richard Matthew Stallman is an odious programmer, author of a large number of applications, as well as the head of the free software movement, founder of the GNU project. Born in New York (USA) March 16, 1953.

Biography

He entered Harvard University, after which he studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (notorious MIT). After some time, he began to work at the same institute - a programmer - in the development of artificial intelligence. In the fall of 1983, Stallman began developing the GNU project and a year later left his job at the Institute, fully devoting himself to new ideas.

Stallman's fame comes from the GNU Project, which he founded to develop a free operating system, and for this he is considered the father of free software. His "serious biography" reads: "Paid software leaves people helpless and makes them hesitate, forbidding them from sharing and altering it. A free operating system is the basis for people to freely use computers. "

Stallman, who prefers to be called rms, started hacking at MIT. He worked as a staff hacker on the Emacs project and others. He was critical of limited access in the lab. When the password protection system was installed, Stallman hacked it, reset the passwords and sent letters to users to cancel the system.

Stallman's crusade for free software began because of the printer. In the MIT laboratory, he and other "hackers" were allowed to change the code of printers so that they would issue understandable error messages. However, a new printer arrived in which they were forbidden to change anything. It was far from the lab, and the lack of messages was a nuisance. It was at this point that he "became convinced that the software should be free."

Inspired by this, he began working on GNU. Stallman wrote an abstract, "The GNU Project," in which he chose to work on the operating system because it is the basis, "the key software for using the computer." At that time, the GNU/Linux version of the operating system used the Linux kernel started by Torvalds. The GNU operating system is distributed under the "copyright lev" license, which uses copyright to allow users to use, modify, copy and distribute software.

Richard Stallman

Stallman's life continues to revolve around promoting the idea of free software. He works against movements such as Digital Rights Media (or as he likes to call it - Digital Restrictions Management), with the help of organizations such as the Free Software Foundation and League of Programming Freedom. For his work, he received wide recognition, as well as awards (including he is a laureate of the Grace Murray Hopper Prize), scholarships and four honorary doctorates.

In September 2019, it became known that the chief evangelist of the idea of ​ ​ free software, Richard Stallman, ended his career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Free Software Foundation (FSF). Stallman, a legend in the world of free software, said on his website that he was forced to take this step^[1].

"I immediately resign from my position at MIT and leave the SPO Foundation due to pressure on me amid misunderstandings and mischaracterizations," Stallman said.

On April 12, 2021, Richard Stallman (RMS) formally apologized to the entire SPO community for his inappropriate behavior^[2].

Richard Stallman apologized to those whom he could offend in his statements, urged not to shift dissatisfaction with his actions to the SPO Foundation and tried to clarify the reasons for his behavior. According to him, since childhood he could not catch the subtle hints that other people reacted to. Stallman admits that he did not immediately realize that his desire to be straightforward and honest in his statements leads to a negative reaction from some people, is inconvenient and can even offend someone.

'Some time later I found that people were reacting negatively to my behaviour, something I didn't even know I had. In an effort to be direct and honest in my thoughts, I sometimes caused moral inconvenience to others or even insulted them, especially women. I had no choice, I did not understand this problem enough to understand what the right expressions are in such situations.

Sometimes I lost my temper because I didn't have the social skills to avoid it. Some people could deal with it and accepted me as I am, others suffered and were defeated by verbal violence on my part. I apologize to each of them. Please direct your criticism to me, and not to the SPO Foundation, "Stallman said..

Stallman also explained his attitude towards Minsky and Epstein, misinterpreted by some. He considers Epstein a criminal who should be punished, and was surprised when he learned that his actions to protect Marvin Minsky were perceived as justifying Epstein's actions. Stallman tried to defend the innocence of Minsky, whom he knew well, after someone compared his guilt to Epstein. The unfair accusation angered and outraged Stallman, and he rushed to Minsky's defense, which he would have done in relation to any other whose innocence he was sure (Minsky's innocence was subsequently shown during the court hearings). Stallman believes that, speaking of the unfair accusation of Minsky, he did the right thing, but his mistake was that he did not take into account that the discussion could be perceived in the context of the injustice to women that Epstein committed.

2023: Detection of a malignant tumor

At the end of September 2023, it became known that Richard Stallman, the founder of GNU/Linux, had a malignant tumor. He announced this in Switzerland during a speech dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the GNU project.

Stallman, 70, said that he was found to have one of the forms of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma - a group of malignancies emanating from undifferentiated cells of the lymphatic system. Tumors can form in the lymph nodes, bone marrow, spleen tissues, and other organs. Stallman suffers from follicular lymphoma: it manifests itself in a sharp increase in the number of defective B-lymphocytes, which displace healthy blood cells and accumulate in the lymph nodes, liver, etc.

Richard Stallman

Over the years, the founder of GNU/Linux appeared in public exclusively with long hair and a thick beard, but due to the disease he had to part with them. Stallman significantly lost weight, and his voice sounded muted during the performance, which indicates serious health problems. And yet he stated that the treatment prognosis is good and he hopes to remain active in the GNU community for years to come.

As The Register notes, there are many types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and Stallman has one of the most slowly developing types. The prognosis of survival for the disease in the initial stages is about 90%, in the mature stages - about 80%. The specific value depends on the success of the course of treatment, the age and condition of the patient, the presence of chronic ailments and other factors. Several effective methods for the treatment of malignant have been developed. formations According to the Institute of Nuclear Medicine, more often the choice of oncologists stops at targeted therapy using rituximab, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and a conservative course with glucocorticosteroids.^[3]

Interesting facts

• Stallman is also extremely rare on the Internet - exclusively out of necessity. Buys nothing in online stores.
• Stallman refused to use a mobile phone (the same recommends others), because he believes that with the help of this device, special services can monitor the actions of users.
• Stallman is a filker. There is nothing criminal about the word - it's just that Richard is part of a community of people who are passionate about writing and performing songs (you can draw some analogy with country) related to science fiction topics. There is even an annual Pegasus Awards, which is established to recognize excellence in the filk genre.

Notes

• Habrahabr.ru of IT