GNULinux - Free Software and Richard Stallman

Today we were able to attend a public speech of the Richard Stallman at SLIIT(Sri Lanka Institue of Information Technology) auditorium, Sri Lanka. He was the one who launched the GNU Project to create a free Unix-like operating system, and has been the project's lead architect and organizer. With the launch of the GNU Project he started the free software movement, and in 1985 set up the Free Software Foundation.

He talked a lot about the free software and the GNU/Linux.
This is a summary of his speech.

“Free software” is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of “free” as in “free speech”, not as in “free beer”.

Free software is a matter of the users' freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. More precisely, it refers to four kinds of freedom, for the users of the software:

• The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
• The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
• The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
• The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

I think you have done a lot of great things to the world but not properly appreciated your contribution.