Richard Stallman, the founder of GNU Project and Free Software Foundation is in Guwahati

Richard Matthew Stallman, the founder of GNU Project and founder of the Free Software Foundation, is in Guwahati since 1st Sept 2010. An American activist for Free Software Movement, Richard Matthew Stallman (often abbreviated as "rms") launched the GNU Project to develop a free Unix like operating system. Through this project he launched the free software movement and launched the Free Software Foundation. He introduced the concept of Copyleft license. He wrote several copyleft licenses including the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL) used for free software.

On the evening of 3rd September 2010 he visited the office of Assam Electronics Development Corporation Ltd. (AMTRON), the IT nodal agency of Govt. of Assam and interacted with the top officials, project managers and analysts of the corporation. During his long interaction session he discussed about the objectives of the GNU Project, Free Software Movement and concept of GNU GPL. He highlighted the problems with using proprietary software and asks to join hand in the free software movement.

Stallman explained the ambiguous use of the term "Linux" to name free Unix-like operating systems used in computers. He said that many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system without realizing it and they often call it "Linux". The users do not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project. The term "Linux" actually refers the kernel. The kernel is the part in the operating system that allocates the computer's resources to the other programs that the user runs. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system. The entire system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called "Linux" distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux. He insisted.

Stallman highlighted the need of inclusion of Free Software in course curriculum in every level starting from school upto engineering/university level. He also advised to write own device drivers for the peripherals to use with GNU/Linux using reverse engineering method.

Stallman inquired about the origin of Assamese language and how Assamese language and scripts are differ from Bengali. He is interested in knowing the present development on Assamese fonts and insisted on developing free Assamese fonts. He was positive on providing support for the development.

The entire interactive session was highly exciting. The session ended with vote of thanks by Managing Director, AMTRON. Today on 4th September 2010, Stallman shall deliver a lecture on Free Software to public at Guwahati Town Club, Near Judges Field, Guwahati at 6 PM.

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Richard Stallman, the founder of GNU Project and Free Software Foundation is in Guwahati

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