Computing expert discusses career

Although he may not be well known outside the computer world, Free Software Foundation President Richard Stallman appealed to approximately 100 students and faculty who gathered in the Towne Building last week. Stallman, a computer programmer and creator of the most widely-used Unix-based text editor -- Emacs -- spoke as a guest of the Dining Philosophers, an undergraduate computer science club. He opened the lecture by posing a question to the large crowd, asking if it was "ethically right to use something to help everybody, to increase the general knowledge in the world." In a one-and-a-half hour speech, Stallman addressed his philosophy on modern computing and how it relates to his non-profit organization. According to Stallman, all proprietary software -- software with copyrights or patents that do not allow redistribution -- is "evil" because it hinders the general user. Stallman, who works out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Artificial Intelligence Lab, emphasized, "free doesn't mean free of charge." "In fact, you are free to sell my software," Stallman said. "However, free means freedom to help yourself, your neighbors, your community." The Free Software Foundation is known for selling the source code on its programs to allow others to copy and use their work. "You must distribute your source code so fellow programmers can build on your work," he explained. According to Stallman, the Free Software Foundation's ultimate goal is to create a "free" and complete operating system called GNU, which is based on the current copyrighted Unix operating system. Stallman articulated the steps his organization has taken toward formulating this program, including the development of GILE, a program that allows software to be programmed in any computer language. Stallman wrapped up his talk by encouraging students to write free software, thereby contributing to the free software movement. "Free software is the only way with which students can solve real problems and create software that people can truly use, and not just work with toy problems," he said. Computer Information Science Professor Val Tannen said Stallman has not only been very influential in the world of computer science, but in academic culture as well. Tannen pointed out that Emacs is one of the most widely used pieces of software used by computer science students today. "Richard Stallman is a mythical figure for generation after generation of computer whizzes," he said.

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