The Untold Story of Richard Stallman: From Free Software to GNU/Linux

Richard Stallman: The Free‑Software Visionary

To outsiders he appears a fanatic; he refuses smartphones because they are not free, uses only Loongson computers whose BIOS, drivers and OS are 100 % free software, and even declines to sign books that are not free.

He believes software freedom is essential to human freedom.

The MIT AI Lab and Early Hacker Culture

The MIT AI Lab (room 545, 9th floor) was a place where hackers lived, worked 36‑hour shifts at terminals, wrote most of the lab’s software, and considered any system they disliked as a target to “hack”. In the 1970s software source code was freely copyable, providing a fertile ground for talent.

Stallman, then a physics PhD student, joined the lab, invented a “lock‑picking” technique to free trapped terminals, and modified Xerox printer firmware to send jam notifications.

The Shift to Proprietary Software

In the 1980s defense funding dwindled, labs turned to private investment, and many MIT AI hackers were hired to develop commercial proprietary software. Bill Gates, aiming for a world where every desktop ran software bought from him, wrote a BASIC interpreter for the Altair and later condemned software copying as theft.

As companies began to restrict source code, Stallman could no longer obtain the printer source he needed, forcing him to choose between joining the proprietary world or staying true to his hacker ideals.

Birth of the GNU Project and the GPL

Stallman left MIT, resigned to avoid copyright claims, and started the GNU project, building a complete free operating system from the ground up: editors (GNU Emacs), compilers (GCC), libraries, shells, etc. He introduced the concept of “copyleft” and authored the GNU General Public License (GPL), insisting that modified software must remain free.

By the early 1990s GNU lacked a kernel; the planned Hurd remained unfinished, while Linux emerged as a functional kernel, completing the GNU system.

Linux vs. GNU: Different Development Philosophies

Linux developers embraced a pragmatic, “bazaar” style, while GNU followed a “cathedral” approach with planned, cohesive development. Stallman warned that calling the whole system “Linux” ignored the massive contribution of GNU tools.

From Free Software to Open Source

In 1998 the term “open source” was coined to make the movement more business‑friendly. Commercial support grew, even from former adversaries like Microsoft, but new licenses allowed code to become proprietary, deepening Stallman’s disappointment.

Despite the rise of open‑source software, Stallman remained uncompromising, insisting that all software should stay free, and continues to champion the cause at age 68.