2001: Hacker Odyssey
Two blocks east of Washington Square Park stands the Warren Weaver Building, brutal and imposing, like a fortress. It houses the Department of Computer Science at New York University. An industrial-style ventilation system creates a continuous curtain of hot air around the building, discouraging scurrying businessmen and loitering loafers alike. If the visitor still manages to overcome this line of defense, he is met by the next formidable frontier - the reception desk right at the only entrance.
After the check-in desk, the degree of severity of the atmosphere subsides somewhat. But here, too, the visitor now and then encounters signs warning of the danger of unlocked doors and blocked fire exits. They seem to remind us that there is never too much security and caution, even in that calm era that ended on September 11, 2001.
And these signs amusingly contrast with the audience filling the inner hall. Some of these people really look like students at the prestigious New York University. But the bulk of them are more like disheveled regulars of concerts and club performances, as if they came into the light during a break between acts. This motley crowd filled the building so quickly this morning that the local security guard just waved his hand and sat down to watch the Ricki Lake show on TV, shrugging each time when unexpected visitors addressed him with questions about a certain “speech”.
Entering the auditorium, the visitor sees the same person who inadvertently sent the building's mighty security system out of sight. This is Richard Matthew Stallman, founder of the GNU Project, founder of the Free Software Foundation, winner of the MacArthur Fellowship for 1990, winner of the Grace Murray Hopper Award for the same year, co-recipient of the Takeda Prize for the improvement of economic and social life, and just an AI Lab hacker. . According to the announcement, sent out to many hacker sites, including the official GNU project portal, Stallman arrived in Manhattan, his hometown, to deliver the long-awaited speech against Microsoft's campaign against the GNU GPL.
Stallman's speech focused on the past and future of the free software movement. The place was not chosen by chance. A month earlier, Microsoft's Senior Vice President Craig Mundy showed up right next door, at the same university's School of Business. Noted for a speech that consisted of attacks and accusations against the GNU GPL license. This license was created by Richard Stallman after the Xerox laser printer incident 16 years ago as a means of combating the licenses and contracts that had shrouded the computer industry in a thick veil of secrecy and proprietary. The essence of the GNU GPL is that it creates a public form of property - what is now called the "digital public good" - using the legal force of copyright, that is, exactly what it is directed against. The GPL made this form of ownership irrevocable and inalienable - once transferred to the public, the code cannot be taken away and appropriated. Derivative works, if they use GPL code, must inherit this license. Because of this feature, critics of the GNU GPL call it "viral" as if it covers every program it touches. .
“The comparison to a virus is too harsh,” says Stallman, “a much better comparison to flowers: they spread if you actively plant them.”
If you want to know more about the GPL license, visit GNU Project website.
For a high-tech economy that is increasingly dependent on software and increasingly tied to software standards, the GPL has become a real "big stick". Even those companies that initially mocked it as "socialism for software" began to recognize the benefits of this license. The Linux kernel, developed by Finnish student Linus Torvalds in 1991, is licensed under the GPL, as are most of the system's components: GNU Emacs, GNU Debugger, GNU GCC, and so on. Together, these components form the free GNU/Linux operating system, which is developed and owned by the global community. High-tech giants like IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Oracle, instead of seeing the ever-growing free software as a threat, use it as the basis for their commercial applications and services. .
Free software has also become their strategic tool in a protracted war with Microsoft, which has dominated the PC software market since the late 80s. With the most popular desktop operating system, Windows, Microsoft could suffer the most from the spread of the GPL in the industry. Every program included with Windows is protected by copyright and EULAs, resulting in proprietary executable files and source code preventing users from reading and modifying the code. If Microsoft wants to use GPL code on its system, it will have to relicense the entire system under the GPL. And this will give Microsoft's competitors the opportunity to copy its products, improve and sell them, thereby undermining the very basis of the company's business - the attachment of users to its products.
This is where Microsoft's growing concern about the widespread adoption of the GPL by the industry comes from. That's why Mundi recently lashed out at the GPL and open source in a speech. (Microsoft does not even recognize the term "free software", preferring to use the term "open source" in its attacks, which is mentioned in . This is done in order to shift the public's attention away from the free software movement towards more apolitical). That is why Richard Stallman chose to publicly protest this speech on this campus today.
Twenty years is a long time for the software industry. Just think: in 1980, when Richard Stallman cursed the Xerox laser printer in the AI lab, Microsoft wasn't a global computer giant, it was a small private startup. IBM hasn't even introduced its first PC yet, and hasn't exploded the low-cost PC market yet. There were also many technologies that we take for granted today - the Internet, satellite television, 32-bit game consoles. The same applies to many companies that are now "playing in the major corporate league", like Apple, Amazon, Dell - they either did not exist in nature, or they were going through hard times. Examples can be given for a long time.
Among those who value development over freedom, rapid progress in such a short time is cited as part of the arguments for and against the GNU GPL. Proponents of the GPL draw attention to the short-lived relevance of computer hardware. To avoid the risk of buying an outdated product, consumers try to choose the most promising companies. As a result, the market becomes a winner-take-all arena. The proprietary software environment, they say, leads to monopoly dictatorship and market stagnation. Rich and powerful companies cut off the oxygen to small competitors and innovative start-ups.
Their opponents claim just the opposite. Selling software, they say, is just as risky as making it, if not more so. Without the legal guarantees that proprietary licenses provide, companies will have no incentive to develop. This is especially true for "killer programs" that create entirely new markets. Once again, the market is stagnant, innovation is on the wane. As Mundi himself noted in his speech, the "viral" nature of the GPL "poses a threat" to any company that uses the uniqueness of its software product as a competitive advantage.
It also undermines the very foundation of the independent commercial software sector,
because it actually makes it impossible to distribute software across the model
buying products, not just paying for copying.
The success of both GNU/Linux and Windows over the past 10 years tells us that both sides are right about something. But Stallman and other free software aficionados think it's a side issue. They say that what is more important is not the success of free or proprietary software, but its ethics.
However, it is vital for the software industry to catch the wave. Even powerful manufacturers such as Microsoft place a lot of emphasis on supporting third-party developers whose applications, professional packages, and games make the Windows platform attractive to consumers. Referring to the explosive development of the high-tech market over the past 20 years, not to mention the impressive achievements of his company over the same period, Mundi advised listeners not to be too impressed by the new free software vogue:
Twenty years of experience has shown that an economic model that
protects intellectual property, and a business model that
compensates for the costs of research and development, can create
impressive economic benefits and disseminate them widely.
Against the background of all these words from a month ago, Stallman prepares for his own speech, standing on the stage in the audience.
The last 20 years have completely changed the world of high technologies for the better. Richard Stallman has changed no less during this time, but for the better? There is no longer that thin, clean-shaven hacker who once spent all his time in front of his beloved PDP-10. Now instead, he's an overweight, middle-aged man with long hair and a rabbi's beard, a man who spends all his time e-mailing, admonishing associates, and giving speeches like this one. Dressed in a navy blue T-shirt and polyester pants, Richard looks like a desert hermit who has just left a Salvation Army checkpoint.
There are many followers of Stallman's ideas and tastes in the crowd. Many came with laptops and mobile modems to make the best possible recording and delivery of Stallman's words to the waiting Internet audience. The gender composition of visitors is very uneven, there are 15 men for every woman, and women hold stuffed toys - penguins, official Linux mascots, and teddy bears.
Excited, Richard leaves the stage, sits on a chair in the front row, and starts typing commands on his laptop. 10 minutes pass like this, and Stallman does not even notice the growing crowd of students, professors and fans that scurry in front of him between the audience and the stage.
You can't just start talking without first going through the decorative rituals of academic formalities, like properly introducing the speaker to the audience. But Stallman looks like he deserves not one, but all two performances. Mike Yuretsky, co-director of the School of Business's Center for Advanced Technology, took on the first.
“One of the missions of the university is to hold debates and in every possible way contribute to the emergence of interesting discussions,” Juretsky begins, “and our today's seminar is fully consistent with this mission. In my opinion, the open source discussion is of particular interest.”
Before Juretsky can say another word, Stallman rises to his full height and waves like a broken-down driver standing by the side of the road.
"I'm in free software," Richard says to growing laughter from the audience, "open source is a different direction."
The applause drowns out the laughter. The audience is full of Stallman guerrillas who are aware of his reputation for being extremely precise, as well as of Richard's famous 1998 spat with the open source community. Many of them were waiting for something like this, just as fans of outrageous stars are waiting for their crown antics from their idols.
Juretsky hurriedly ends his introduction and makes way for Edmond Schonberg, a professor in the computer science department at New York University. Schonberg is a programmer and a member of the GNU project, and he is well acquainted with the map of the location of terminological mines. He deftly sums up Stallman's journey from the perspective of a modern programmer.
“Richard is a great example of a person who, while working on small problems, began to think about the big problem - the problem of inaccessibility of source code,” says Schonberg, “he developed a consistent philosophy, under the influence of which we redefined the way we think about software production, about intellectual property , about the community of software developers.
Schonberg welcomes Stallman to applause. He quickly turns off the laptop, rises to the stage and appears before the audience.
At first, Richard's performance sounds more like a stand-up act than a political speech. “I want to thank Microsoft for a good reason to speak here,” he jokes.
To bring the uninitiated up to date, Stallman conducts a brief educational program based on analogies. He compares a computer program to a cooking recipe. Both are useful step-by-step instructions on how to achieve your desired goal. Both can be easily changed to suit the circumstances or your wishes. “You don't have to follow the recipe exactly,” explains Stallman, “you can omit ingredients or add mushrooms just because you love mushrooms. Put less salt because the doctor told you so - whatever.
Most importantly, Stallman says, the programs and recipes are very easy to distribute. To share a dinner recipe with a guest, a piece of paper and a couple of minutes of your time is enough. Copying computer programs requires even less - just a couple of mouse clicks and a fraction of electricity. In both cases, the giving person gets a double benefit: it strengthens the friendship and increases the chances that the same will be shared with him.
“Now imagine that all the recipes are a black box,” continues Richard, “you don’t know what ingredients are used there, you can’t change the recipe and share it with a friend. If you do, you will be called a pirate and put in jail for years to come. Such a world will cause great indignation and rejection among people who love to cook and are used to sharing recipes. But that's just the world of proprietary software. A world in which public integrity is prohibited and suppressed.”
After this introductory analogy, Stallman tells the story of the Xerox laser printer. Just like the culinary analogy, the printer story is a powerful oratory. Like a parable, the story of the fatal printer shows how quickly things can change in the world of software. Taking listeners back to a time long before 1-click purchases on Amazon, Microsoft systems, and Oracle databases, Richard tries to convey to the audience what it was like to deal with programs that were not yet tightly walled under corporate logos.
Stallman's story is carefully crafted and polished, like a district attorney's closing speech in court. When he comes to the incident at Carnegie Mellon, where a researcher refused to share the source code for a printer driver, Richard pauses.
“He betrayed us,” says Stallman, “but not only us. He may have betrayed you too."
At the word "you," Stallman points his finger at an unsuspecting listener in the audience. He raises his eyebrows, flinches in surprise, but Richard is already looking for another victim among the nervously giggling crowd, looking for it slowly and deliberately. “And I think he probably did it to you too,” he says, pointing to a man in the third row.
The audience no longer giggles, but laughs out loud. Of course, this gesture of Richard looks a bit theatrical. However, Stallman ends the story with the Xerox laser printer with the ardor of a real showman. “In fact, he betrayed a lot more people than are sitting in this audience, not counting those born after 1980,” Richard concludes, causing even more laughter, “simply because he betrayed all of humanity.”
He then downplays the drama by saying, "He did it by signing a non-disclosure agreement."
Richard Matthew Stallman's evolution from disillusioned researcher to political leader speaks volumes. About his stubborn character and impressive will. About his clear worldview and distinct values that helped him found the free software movement. About his highest qualification in programming - it allowed him to create a number of important applications and become a cult figure for many programmers. This evolution has steadily increased the popularity and influence of the GPL, and this legal innovation is considered by many to be Stallman's greatest achievement.
All this suggests that the nature of political influence is changing - it is increasingly associated with information technologies and programs that embody them.
Perhaps that is why Stallman's star is only getting brighter, while the stars of many high-tech giants went out and set. Since the launch of the GNU project in 1984, Stallman and his free software movement have been first ignored, then ridiculed, then humiliated and criticized. But the GNU project managed to overcome all this, albeit not without problems and periodic stagnation, and still offers relevant programs in a software market that, by the way, has become much more complicated over the decades. The philosophy laid down by Stallman at the basis of GNU is also successfully developing. . In another part of his New York speech on May 29, 2001, Stallman spoke briefly about the origin of the acronym:
We hackers often pick up funny and even hooligan names for
their programs, because the naming of programs is one of the components
the pleasure of writing them. We also have a tradition
using recursive abbreviations that show what your
the program is somewhat similar to existing applications ... I
was looking for a recursive abbreviation in the form "Some-thing This Is Not
Unix. I went through all the letters of the alphabet, and none of them made up
the right word. I decided to shorten the phrase to three words, getting this
a three-letter abbreviation of the form "Some-thing - Not Unix".
I began to sort through the letters and came across the word "GNU". That's the whole story.Although Richard is a fan of puns, he advises saying the acronym
in English with a distinct "r" at the beginning, to avoid not only
confusion with the name of the African wildebeest, but also similarities with
English adjective "new", i.e. "new". "We are working on
project for a couple of decades, so it’s not new at all, ”jokes
Stallman.
Understanding the reasons for this demand and success is greatly helped by studying the speeches and statements of both Richard himself and those around him, which help him or put spokes in the wheels. The image of Stallman's personality does not need to be overcomplicated. If there is a living example of the old adage “reality is exactly what it looks like,” it is Stallman.
“I think if you want to understand Richard Stallman as a person, then you need to not analyze him in parts, but look at him as a whole,” says Eben Moglin, legal adviser at the Free Software Foundation and professor of law at Columbia University, “all these eccentric moments, which many people consider something artificial, feigned - in fact, sincere manifestations of Richard's personality. He was really very disappointed at one time, he is really extremely principled in ethical issues and rejects any compromises in the most important, fundamental problems. That's why Richard did everything he did."
It is not easy to explain how the clash with the laser printer has grown into a clash with the richest corporations in the world. This requires a thoughtful examination of the reasons why software ownership has suddenly become so important. You need to get to know a man who, like many political leaders of the past, understands how changeable and malleable people's memory is. It is necessary to understand the meaning of the myths and ideological patterns that Stallman's figure has grown over time. Finally, you need to be aware of Richard's level of genius as a programmer, and why this genius sometimes fails in other areas.
If you ask Stallman himself to deduce the reasons for his evolution from a hacker to a leader and an evangelist, then he will agree with the above. “Stubbornness is my forte,” he says. “Most people fail in the face of great adversity simply because they give up. I never give up."
He also pays tribute to blind chance. Had it not been for the Xerox laser printer incident, had it not been for a series of personal and ideological skirmishes that ended his career at MIT, and had it not been for a half dozen other circumstances at the right time and place, Stallman's life, by his own admission, would have been very different. . Therefore, Stallman thanks fate for guiding him on the path he is on.
“It's just that I had the right ability,” Richard says at the end of his speech, summing up the story of starting the GNU project, “no one else could do this, only me. Therefore, I felt that I was chosen for this mission. I just had to do it. After all, if not me, then who?
Source: linux.org.ru