A recent attack piece against Richard Stallman was written by Linus Torvalds on the eve of Obama’s election.

Black and white by Linus Torvalds

Linus begins with this:

"Richard Matthew Stallman (born March 16, 1953), often abbreviated "rms",[1] is an American software freedom activist, hacker,[2] and software developer. In September 1983, he launched the GNU Project[3] to create a free Unix-like operating system, and has been the project's lead architect and organizer.

«... Richard Stallman has undertaken probably the most ambitious free software development project to date, the GNU system. In his GNU Manifesto, published in the March 1985 issue of Dr. Dobb's Journal, Stallman described GNU as a "complete Unix-compatible software system which I am writing so that I can give it away free to everyone who can use it...

"The GNU operating system is a complete free software system, upward-compatible with Unix. GNU stands for “GNU's Not Unix”. Richard Stallman made the Initial Announcement of the GNU Project in September 1983. A longer version called the GNU Manifesto was published in September 1985 [...] By 1990 we had either found or written all the major components except one—the kernel.

You may have read our collection of mythical and humorous facts about Linus Torvalds. This time around, we will give tribute to another living legend by the name of Richard M. Stallman. Since this free software evangelist has tons of loyal fans, it didn't take long for me to gather some of the whimsical facts that are being said about him. Here are some of my favorites...

Interview with Richard Stallman about various topics; about the difference between the free software movement and open source, why Stallman rejects the term "intellectual property", the GPLv3 and Torvalds view on it, Microsofts patent claims, and about the Microsoft-Novell deal.

« 25 years ago Richard Stallman started the GNU (”Gnu’s Not Unix”) project to create a computer operating system like Unix (then ascendant in computer labs like the one Stallman worked in), but with source code free for programmers to run, study, share, and improve.

This was amusing and odd. The presenter mistakenly gives the award to the "Free Software Association". The donation was modest but the cardboard check was huge.

Upon receiving the award, Stallman said "Giving the Linus Torvalds Award to the Free Software Foundation is sort of like giving the Han Solo Award to the Rebel Fleet."

Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux kernel, has, along with others like Richard Stallman, literally changed the world of software forever.