'"
The GPL's expanding popularity and continuing
gravitational strength are the best tributes to the
foundation laid by Stallman and his GNU colleagues.
While no longer capable of billing himself as the "last
true hacker," Stallman nevertheless can take sole
credit for building the free software movement's
ethical framework. Whether or not other modern
programmers feel comfortable working inside that
framework is immaterial. The fact that they even have a
choice at all is Stallman's greatest legacy.
Discussing Stallman's legacy at this point seems a bit
premature. Stallman, 48 at the time of this writing,
still has a few years left to add to or subtract from
that legacy. Still, the autopilot nature of the free
software movement makes it tempting to examine
Stallman's life outside the day-to-day battles of the
software industry and within a more august, historical setting.
To his credit, Stallman refuses all opportunities to
speculate. "I've never been able to work out detailed
plans of what the future was going to be like," says
Stallman, offering his own premature epitaph.
Pages:
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359