Richard Stallman Quotes - Page 3

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• If programmers deserve to be rewarded for creating innovative programs, by the same token they deserve to be punished if they restrict the use of these programs.

  Richard Stallman

  Creating, Use, Program

  Richard Stallman (2002). “Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman”, p.30, Lulu.com

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• Without absolute certainty, what do we do? We do the best we can. Injustice is happening now; suffering is happening now. We have choices to make now. To insist on absolute certainty before starting to apply ethics to life decisions is a way of choosing to be amoral.

  Richard Stallman

  Choices, Decision, Suffering

  Slashdot interview, news.slashdot.org. May 1, 2000.

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• I'm always happy when I'm protesting.

  Richard Stallman

  Always Happy

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• Whether gods exist or not, there is no way to get absolute certainty about ethics. Without absolute certainty, what do we do? We do the best we can.

  Richard Stallman

  Way, Ethics, Absolute Certainty

  "Thus Spake Stallman". Slashdot.org Interview, slashdot.org. May 01, 2000.

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• It doesn't take special talents to reproduce--even plants can do it. On the other hand, contributing to a program like Emacs takes real skill. That is really something to be proud of. It helps more people, too.

  Richard Stallman

  Real, Hands, Skills

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• All governments should be pressured to correct their abuses of human rights.

  Richard Stallman

  Rights, Government, Abuse

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• I suppose many people will continue moving towards careless computing, because there's a sucker born every minute.

  Richard Stallman

  Moving, People, Born

  "Google's ChromeOS means losing control of data, warns GNU founder Richard Stallman" by Charles Arthur, www.theguardian.com. December 14, 2010.

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• Android is a major step towards an ethical, user-controlled, free-software portable phone, but there is a long way to go.

  Richard Stallman

  Phones, Long, Way

  "Is Android really free software?" by Richard Stallman, www.theguardian.com. September 19, 2011.

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• So, make a real effort to avoid getting sucked into all the expensive lifestyle habits of typical Americans. Because if you do that, then people with the money will dictate what you do with your life.

  Richard Stallman

  Real, People, Effort

  Richard Stallman (2002). “Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman”, p.133, Lulu.com

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• In the free/libre software movement, we develop software that respects users' freedom, so we and you can escape from software that doesn't.

  Richard Stallman

  Movement, Software, Libre

  "Is Android really free software?" by Richard Stallman, www.theguardian.com. September 19, 2011.

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• Also, because schools must teach the spirit of goodwill, the habit of helping others around you, every class should have this rule: students, if you bring software to class you may not keep it for yourself.

  Richard Stallman

  School, Helping Others, Should Have

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• Today many people are switching to free software for purely practical reasons. That is good, as far as it goes, but that isn't all we need to do! Attracting users to free software is not the whole job, just the first step.

  Richard Stallman

  Jobs, People, Today

  "Why 'Free Software' is better than 'Open Source'". www.gnu.org. 1998.

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• The Adobe flash plug-in is non-free software, and people should not install it, or suggest installing it, or even tell people it exists.

  Richard Stallman

  People, Should, Flash

  OpenBSD mailing list, Subject: "Re: Real men don't attack straw men", marc.info. December 14, 2007.

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• We need to teach people to refuse to install non-free plug-ins; we need to teach people to care more about their long-term interest of freedom than their immediate desire to view a particular site.

  Richard Stallman

  Views, Long, People

  "Interview with Richard Stallman: Four Essential Freedoms" by Roy Schestowitz, IT Management, December 19, 2007.

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• Laws that oppress people have no moral authority.

  Richard Stallman

  Law, People, Moral

  "Free Software and Beyond: Human Rights in the Use of Software and Other Published Works". Lecture by Richard Stallman in Goeteborg, Sweden, May 16, 2007.

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• I have met bright students in computer science who have never seen the source code of a large program. They may be good at writing small programs, but they can't begin to learn the different skills of writing large ones if they can't see how others have done it.

  Richard Stallman

  Writing, Skills, Different

  Richard Stallman (2002). “Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman”, p.102, Lulu.com

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• If ebooks mean that readers' freedom must either increase or decrease, we must demand the increase.

  Richard Stallman

  Mean, Demand, Increase

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• Prior art is as effective as US soldiers in Iraq: They control the ground they stand on, and nothing more. I used to say Vietnam, but, well, you know.

  Richard Stallman

  Art, Iraq, Soldier

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• Somebody is saying this is inevitable – and whenever you hear somebody saying that, it's very likely to be a set of businesses campaigning to make it true.

  Richard Stallman

  Inevitable, Campaigning

  "Cloud Computing Is a Trap, Warns GNU Founder Richard Stallman". Interview with Bobbie Johnson, www.theguardian.com. September 29, 2008.

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• The GNU GPL was not designed to be "open source".

  Richard Stallman

  Source, Open Source

  "Re: GPL version 4" on NetBSD mailing list, mail-index.netbsd.org. July 17, 2008.

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• In terms of effect on the world, it's very good that I've lived. And so I guess, if I could go back in time and prevent my birth, I wouldn't do it. But I sure wish I hadn't had so much pain.

  Richard Stallman

  Pain, Wish, World

  "Geek Power: Steven Levy Revisits Tech Titans, Hackers, Idealists". Interview with Steven Levy, www.wired.com. April 19, 2010.

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• Globalizing a bad thing makes it worse. But globalizing a good thing is usually good.

  Richard Stallman

  Globalization, Good Things, Bad Things

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• Control over the use of one's ideas really constitutes control over other people's lives; and it is usually used to make their lives more difficult.

  Richard Stallman

  Ideas, People, Use

  Richard Stallman (2002). “Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman”, p.31, Lulu.com

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• EMACS could not have been reached by a process of careful design, because such processes arrive only at goals which are visible at the outset, and whose desirability is established on the bottom line at the outset. Neither I nor anyone else visualized an extensible editor until I had made one, nor appreciated its value until he had experienced it. EMACS exists because I felt free to make individually useful small improvements on a path whose end was not in sight.

  Richard Stallman

  Learning, Sight, Editors

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• My favorite programming languages are Lisp and C. However, since around 1992 I have worked mainly on free software activism, which means I am too busy to do much programming. Around 2008 I stopped doing programming projects.

  Richard Stallman

  Mean, Language, Busy

  "How I do my computing". stallman.org. 2006.

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