FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:  Mary Anthony

mary.anthony@trinity.edu

April 8, 2009

Richard Stallman to Speak on the Free Software Movement at Trinity University

SAN ANTONIO – Richard Stallman, from the Free Software Foundation, will discuss “Free Software in Ethics and in Practice” at 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 20, in Chapman Auditorium.  The lecture is free and open to the public.

Professor Stallman launched the development of the GNU operating system (www.gnu.org) in 1984.  The GNU operating system gave rise to Linux, a more commonly known free operating system.  He advocates that everyone has the freedom to copy software and redistribute it, as well as make changes, either large or small. The GNU/Linux system, which is the GNU system with Linux added, is used on tens of millions of computers today.  The Free Software Movement campaigns for freedom so that computer users can cooperate to control their own computing activities.  

Professor Stallman has received the ACM Grace Hopper Award, a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Pioneer Award, and the Takeda Award for Social/Economic Betterment, as well as several honorary doctorates.

The event is hosted by the departments of computer science, engineering, mathematics, the Lecturers and Visiting Scholars Committee, and the AT&T Center for Learning and Technology. For more information, call Trinity’s computer science department at 210-999-7399 or e-mail Yu Zhang at yzhang@trinity.edu.

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