Very lengthy article from 1985 written by Richard Stallman, father of Emacs, and GNU.
He talks heavily about free software, and it’s uses in society. Also about how the world would be a better place if it caught on.
Richard Stallman’s Opensource Biography
Excerpt from the end of the article. Even if you don’t read the article read this, its quite interesting.
###
In the long run, making programs free is a step toward
the post-scarcity world, where nobody will have to work very
hard just to make a living. People will be free to devote
themselves to activities that are fun, such as programming,
after spending the necessary ten hours a week on required
tasks such as legislation, family counseling, robot repair,
and asteroid prospecting. There will be no need to be able
to make a living from programming.
We have already greatly reduced the amount of work that
the whole society must do for its actual productivity, but
only a little of this has translated itself into leisure for
workers because so much nonproductive activity is required
to accompany productive activity. The main causes of this
are bureaucracy and isometric struggles against competition.
Free software will greatly reduce these drains in the area
of software production. We must do this in order for techn-
ical gains in productivity to translate into less work for
us.
————-
Richard Stallman, 166 Prospect Street, Cambridge MA
02139. Copyright (c) 1985 Richard Stallman. Permission is
granted to make and distribute copies of this article as
long as the copyright and this notice appear, and the copies
are distributed at no charge.
###
