Richard Stallman

What Does Richard Stallman Mean?

Richard Stallman, born 1953, is a technology expert and software activist known for launching the GNU project in 1983 and for other roles and technological development. Born in New York City, Stallman was educated at Harvard and MIT, and eventually became a proponent of open-source software.

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Techopedia Explains Richard Stallman

Stallman has traveled the world arguing for freer and more transparent software products. For example, he suggested an alternative to the now popular Wikipedia as a means of offering free information to the public on the Internet. Stallman’s GNU Project sought to create a free operating system similar in some ways to the popular Unix OS design. Stallman has promoted various types of free software and has criticized technology companies for aggressive trade practices. Stallman also speaks out against things like surveillance and other issues around the egalitarian use of technology.

Stallman has won various honors and awards, including a MacArthur Fellowship, an honorary doctorate from Sweden’s Royal Institute of Technology and membership in the United States National Academy of Engineering.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…