In a 1986 speech at
the Swedish Royal Technical Institute, Stallman cited
the UniPress incident as yet another example of the
dangers associated with proprietary software.
"Sometimes I think that perhaps one of the best things
I could do with my life is find a gigantic pile of
proprietary software that was a trade secret, and start
handing out copies on a street corner so it wouldn't be
a trade secret any more," said Stallman. "Perhaps that
would be a much more efficient way for me to give
people new free software than actually writing it
myself; but everyone is too cowardly to even take it."
Despite the stress it generated, the dispute over
Gosling's innovations would assist both Stallman and
the free software movement in the long term. It would
force Stallman to address the weaknesses of the Emacs
Commune and the informal trust system that had allowed
problematic offshoots to emerge. It would also force
Stallman to sharpen the free software movement's
political objectives. Following the release of GNU
Emacs in 1985, Stallman issued " The GNU Manifesto," an
expansion of the original announcement posted in
September, 1983.
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