Debian Linux is 30 years old. Today, it remains one of the most dominant Linux distributions. Here s how it started and where its impact is still felt today.
The controversy surrounding Richard Stallman has raised questions about the Free Software Foundation s relevance.
Richard M. Stallman (RMS) has been known for years as the founder of the Free Software Foundation (FSF) in fact, of the free software community itself. Ironically, with his recent reappointment to the FSF’s board of directors, he also risks becoming known as the man who threw the FSF into disarray, losing it the authority it has gained over the decades.
The story dates back to September 2019, when Stallman commented on an MIT email thread about sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Specifically, Stallman defended AI pioneer Marvin Minsky against allegations of sexually assaulting an underage girl who had been one of Epstein’s victims. Stallman wrote, “We can imagine many scenarios, but the most plausible scenario is that she presented herself to him as entirely willing.” The insensitivity of Stallman’s comments, which were focused on his personal definition of the w