Free-software activist to speak at Rice Aug. 26

Free-software activist to speak at Rice Aug. 26
Stallman will address ethics and practice of free software

FROM RICE NEWS STAFF REPORTS

Software developer and free-software activist Richard Stallman will speak at Rice University Aug. 26 at 3:30 p.m. about “Free Software in Ethics and in Practice.” The speech will be in McMurtry Auditorium, Anne and Charles Duncan Hall, and a free reception will follow.

Stallman, the founder of the free-software movement and lead architect and organizer of the GNU Project, will speak about the movement’s campaign for freedoms that allow computer users to cooperate and control their own computing activities. The movement developed the GNU operating system to establish these freedoms.

Stallman launched the development of the GNU operating system (see www.gnu.org) in 1984. GNU is free software. Everyone has the freedom to copy it and redistribute it, as well as to make changes, large or small. The GNU/Linux system, basically the GNU operating system with the Linux kernel added, is used on tens of millions of computers today. Stallman has received the ACM Grace Hopper Award, a MacArthur Foundation fellowship, the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Pioneer Award and the Takeda Award for Social/Economic Betterment, as well as several honorary doctorates.

Stallman’s speech is sponsored by Rice’s Department of Computer Science.