Free as in freedom
by Sam Williams · first published 2002
63% recommend38% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Biography of Richard Stallman and the origins of the free software movement, drawing on early programmers' accounts of his abilities; recommended for anyone curious about open source history and its founding debates.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"Why would Microsoft executives lie awake at night worrying about the antics of a long-haired, renegade hacker named Richard Stallman? Why do some of the smartest programmers on the planet revere this man as "St. Ignucius"? And how did a stubborn, precocious boy obsessed with creating the perfect model rocket grow up to play David to the software industry's Goliath?". "Free as in Freedom traces this eccentric genius's evolution from gifted, solitary child to teen outcast to revered and reviled crusader. Through extensive interviews with Stallman, his family, fellow hackers, and tech-industry
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I didn't realize just how crazy smart he was until I started reading Free as in Freedom and read the accounts of how other impressive early programmers viewed him. Even among these guys, he stood out. Sometimes I think, "what a shame it is that he had to stop coding!" Then I think of how…
on “The Emacs Commune (2002)” ↗…"Hacker News." Richard Stallman literally started the Free Software movement because the driver to the Xerox 9700 laster printer was closed source. Please read Steven Levy's Hackers and Sam William's Free as in Freedom. Asking "why care whether the driver is open source" to me as a hacker is like asking "why care whether you are a slave?"
on “Nvidia's “Open-Source Guy” Has Left the Company” ↗Free as in Freedom by Sam Williams is quite an interesting book about Richard Stallman and the origins of the free software movement. A version revised by Stallman himself is available under the GFDL: https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmcGNKQQKnywV4mtAsUFmi9xaYthkoBucwAKGo7...
on “Ask HN: Recommendations on books and documentaries on tech companies/people?” ↗…Fooled by Randomness, 2E _________ (2010) Black Swan: Impact of the Highly Improbable, 2E Torvalds, Linus and David Diamond (2001) Just for Fun: Story of an Accidental Revolutionary Williams, Sam (2002) Free as in Freedom: Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free Software
on “Ask HN: Are there any books that inspire or highly influence the way you work?” ↗…Free Software is a complex phenomenon, and I respectfully submit that he doesn't do justice to the seeds-of-its-own-demise nature of its founding. My account, based largely on Sam Williams' outstanding Free as in Freedom: http://www.sampenrose.net/tools/
on “The culture war at the heart of open source” ↗…Linus and David Diamond (2001) Just for Fun: Story of an Accidental Revolutionary Wallace, James and Jim Erickson (1992) Hard Drive: Bill Gates and Making of the Microsoft Empire Williams, Sam (2002) Free as in Freedom: Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free Software Wilson, Mike (1996) The Difference between God and Larry Ellison: Inside Oracle Corp
on “Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?” ↗I've never tried pair programming so I don't have an opinion on it, but I do know of an interesting pair programming story about Richard Stallman. It's related by Sam Williams in chapter six of his book Free As In Freedom: Richard Stallman's Crusade For Free Software: [Guy Steele] recalls a notable episode in the late 1970s when the two programmers banded together to write the editor's "pretty print" feature. Originally…
on “Why Pair Programming Is Not For the Masses” ↗…protect the rights of people who do abortions, to protect us from theocracy, these are tremendously important issues, far more important than what I do. I just wish I knew how to do something about them." - Free As In Freedom by Sam Williams (p66 or p73 depending on version).
on “Richard Stallman: "I Wished I Had Killed Myself"” ↗…Tourist Policy: https://donhopkins.medium.com/mit-ai-lab-tourist-policy-f73b... >MIT-MC PDP-10 at the MIT AI Lab: https://donhopkins.com/home/catalog/images/mc-console.jpg >Context >Excerpt from Free as in Freedom, Richard Stallman’s Crusade for Free Software, by Sam Williams, March 2002, Chapter 7: https://www.oreilly.com/openbook/freedom/ch07.html >>Cadging passwords and deliberately crashing the system in…
on “Most buildings at MIT campus are remaining closed to the public” ↗…Tourist Policy: https://donhopkins.medium.com/mit-ai-lab-tourist-policy-f73b... >MIT-MC PDP-10 at the MIT AI Lab: https://donhopkins.com/home/catalog/images/mc-console.jpg >Context >Excerpt from Free as in Freedom, Richard Stallman’s Crusade for Free Software, by Sam Williams, March 2002, Chapter 7: https://www.oreilly.com/openbook/freedom/ch07.html >>Cadging passwords and deliberately crashing the system in…
on “PiDP-10 – a modern replica of the PDP-10” ↗