Founder Free Software Foundation
Founder of the Free Software Foundation and GNU Project. Launched the free software movement and created the GNU General Public License. Controversial figure who resigned from FSF in 2019 over comments related to the Epstein case, then was reinstated to the board in 2021 amid widespread community opposition.
In March 2021, Stallman was reinstated to the FSF board of directors despite an open letter signed by thousands opposing his return. Major organizations including Red Hat, EFF, FSFE, and Software Freedom Conservancy withdrew support or condemned the decision, citing his history of problematic behavior.
In September 2019, Stallman resigned as FSF president and from his MIT CSAIL position after emails surfaced in which he made comments about a victim of Jeffrey Epstein, suggesting she may have been 'entirely willing.' The comments sparked widespread condemnation in the tech community.
In 1989, Richard Stallman published the first version of the GNU General Public License (GPL), the first copyleft license. The GPL ensured that software and its derivatives remain free, preventing proprietary capture. The GPL became the most widely used free software license, used by Linux, Git, and thousands of other projects, fundamentally shaping the open-source ecosystem.
Richard Stallman released the first version of GCC (GNU C Compiler, later GNU Compiler Collection) in 1987. GCC became the standard compiler for Unix-like systems and remains one of the most important free software projects. It enabled the development of Linux and countless other open-source projects by providing a free, high-quality compiler.
In 1983, Stallman announced the GNU Project to create a free Unix-like operating system. In 1985, he founded the Free Software Foundation and authored the GPL, establishing the copyleft licensing model that became foundational to open source software.
In 1984, Richard Stallman began work on GNU Emacs, releasing it in 1985 as one of the first major programs of the GNU Project. GNU Emacs became one of the most widely used text editors among programmers and established the pattern for copyleft licensing. It remains actively maintained and used today, demonstrating the longevity and success of free software.
On September 27, 1983, Richard Stallman announced the GNU Project, his plan to create a completely free Unix-compatible operating system. The GNU system, combined with the Linux kernel, became the foundation for modern free/open-source operating systems used by billions. GNU tools (GCC, Emacs, bash, etc.) remain core to software development worldwide.