Rackspace Hosts a GNU/Linux Legend

Filed in by Thomas Weeks | May 19, 2009 9:38 am

On April 20th, we hosted a very special guest from the Free Software Foundation and GNU/Linux software [1]community. Our special guest was, none other than Richard Stallman[2], author of the GPL free software license and the bulk of the GNU+Linux[3] operating system that most Linux distros rely on today (including gcc[4]!).

Stallman was in town to lecture on Free Software at Trinity University[5], but by a lucky turn of events, he stayed at my house for two nights! Since I had his ear, I lured him to the Rack for an FSF.org book signing[6], and then lunch with a few of our uber geeky GNU/Linux guys[7]. We all had fun and I think that we all learned just how far geeky the geek spectrum goes.

Later that night, our user group[8] (xcssa.org) attended and recorded Stallman’s Trinity lecture[9]. I helped Stallman sell off the last of the FSF.org[10] books and t-shirts, raising over $2,100 in funds for the Free Software Foundation.

I must say, hosting Richard Stallman in my home and within my various personal and professional geek circles was a once in a lifetime experience.

For all the photos and details, see the XCSSA.org photo site[11].

Endnotes:
  1. : http://xcssa.org/photos/2009-04_STALLMAN/dscf0525h.jpg
  2. Richard Stallman: http://freeopensourcesoftware.org/index.php?title=Richard_Stallman
  3. GNU+Linux: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux
  4. gcc: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Compiler_Collection
  5. lecture on Free Software at Trinity University: http://xcssa.org/photos/2009-04_STALLMAN/video/Flyer-Stallman-Apr20-09.pdf
  6. an FSF.org book signing: http://xcssa.org/photos/2009-04_STALLMAN/
  7. lunch with a few of our uber geeky GNU/Linux guys: http://xcssa.org/photos/2009-04_STALLMAN/dscf0526.jpg
  8. our user group: http://xcssa.org/
  9. attended and recorded Stallman’s Trinity lecture: http://xcssa.org/photos/2009-04_STALLMAN/dscf0530.jpg
  10. FSF.org: http://www.fsf.org/
  11. XCSSA.org photo site: http://xcssa.org/photos/2009-04_STALLMAN/

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