Back in 1997 or 1998, Richard Stallman gave a talk in Sophia Antipolis which I went to attend. Stallman is a free software activist and programmer (he created gcc and emacs among other programs) who founded the GNU Project and the Free Software Foundation.

At the time, I didn't know what Stallman looked like physically, so it was quite a fun surprise when a man with long hair and a big beard popped up on the stage unannonced and started to play the flute ...

Stallman then delivered a speech on what free software is and why one should use and contribute to free sofware. The first half of the speech was delivered in French (which Stallman had a good command of) and then he switched to English. The speech had quite an impact on my (then) young mind. Below I include a(nother similar) speech from Stallman on free software.

Free software is about freedom, not price. It is about ethics and thus it is a social movement.

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