Thirty years ago, when Richard Stallman launched the GNU project, and during the three decades that followed, his sometimes extreme views and peculiar antics were ridiculed and disregarded as paranoia - but here we are, 2012, and his once paranoid what-ifs have become reality.

What, I wondered, happens when Stallman no longer leads? Will new intellectual leaders emerge, or will free software be limited to a single generation?

The Free Software Foundation and Richard Stallman's work represents the most important work for freedom that this culture, the American culture, has seen in many many generations because it takes the ideas of freedom and it removes it from the ivory tower, and it removes it from lawyers, and places it in a community -- a technology community -- that is one of the most important communities definin

"By working on and using GNU rather than proprietary programs, we can be hospitable to everyone and obey the law. In addition, GNU serves as an example to inspire and a banner to rally others to join us in sharing. This can give us a feeling of harmony which is impossible if we use software that is not free.

Richard Stallman is currently touring Australia. On September 16 he spoke to Greg Adamson in Melbourne.

Christmas is near! Matthias has some good advice. Here is his new list of Free Software related books 2009 which are also good for people who have not heard much about Free Software before.

An in-depth investigation of the Mono controversy. And yes, before you complain, I wrote it. After seeing how much work I'd put into it, I thought it would be nice to have someone other than Microsoft trolls leaving comments .