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Dear all,<br>
<br>
Please find information about Richard Stallman's talk on Apr 28
below. <br>
<br>
--venkat<br>
<b><br>
</b><b><br>
<br>
<br>
April 28, 2006: <b>Seminar: </b> The Free Software Movement and the
GNU/Linux Operating System</b><br>
<center>
<h2>The University of Illinois at Chicago</h2>
<h2>Department of Computer Science</h2>
<h2>2005-2006 Distinguished Lecturer Seminar Series</h2>
<br>
<h3>The Free Software Movement and the GNU/Linux Operating System</h3>
<h4>Richard M. Stallman
<br>
GNU project and Free Software Foundation<br>
Friday, April 28, 2006<br>
11:00 a.m., Lecture Center B1</h4>
</center>
<br>
<b>Abstract:</b>
<br>
<br>
Richard Stallman will speak about the purpose, goals, philosophy,
methods, status, and future prospects of the GNU operating system,
"GNU'' is a recursive acronym for "GNU's Not Unix''. GNU is <a
href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">free software</a>:
everyone is free to copy it and redistribute it, as well as to make
changes either large or small. Today, Linux-based variants of the GNU
system, based on the kernel Linux developed by Linus Torvalds, are in
widespread use. There are estimated to be some 20 million users of <a
href="http://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html">GNU/Linux systems</a>
today.
<br>
<br>
<b>Brief Bio:</b>
<br>
<br>
Richard Stallman is the founder of the <a
href="http://www.gnu.org/gnu/thegnuproject.html">GNU Project</a>,
launched in 1984 to develop the free software operating system <a
href="http://www.gnu.org/gnu">GNU</a>. Richard Stallman is the
principal author of the <a
href="http://www.gnu.org/software/gcc/gcc.html">GNU Compiler Collection</a>,
a portable optimizing compiler which was designed to support diverse
architectures and multiple languages. The compiler now supports over 30
different architectures and 7 programming languages. Stallman also
wrote the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/gdb.html">GNU
symbolic debugger (gdb)</a>, <a
href="http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs.html">GNU Emacs</a>, and
various other programs for the GNU operating system.
<br>
<br>
Stallman graduated from Harvard in 1974 with a BA in physics. During
his college years, he also worked as a staff hacker at the MIT
Artificial Intelligence Lab, learning operating system development by
doing it. He wrote the first extensible Emacs text editor there in
1975. He also developed the AI technique of dependency-directed
backtracking, also known as truth maintenance. In January 1984 he
resigned from MIT to start the GNU project.
<br>
<br>
Stallman received the Grace Hopper award for 1991 from the
Association for Computing Machinery, for his development of the first
Emacs editor. In 1990 he was awarded a Macarthur foundation fellowship,
and in 1996 an honorary doctorate from the Royal Institute of
Technology in Sweden. In 1998 he received the Electronic Frontier
Foundation's pioneer award along with Linus Torvalds. In 1999 he
received the Yuri Rubinski award. In 2001 he received a second honorary
doctorate, from the University of Glasgow, and shared the Takeda award
for social/economic betterment with Torvalds and Ken Sakamura. In 2002
he was elected to the US National Academy of Engineering, and in 2003
to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2003 he was named an
honorary professor of the Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria in Peru,
and received an honorary doctorate from the Free University of
Brussels. In 2004 he received an honorary doctorate from the
Universidad Nacional de Salta, in Argentina.
<br>
<br>
<b>Note:</b>
<br>
<br>
Richard Stallman's lecture on the Free Software Movement is
scheduled to last one and half hours with questions following, somewhat
longer than the usual CS Distinguished Lecture. This is a unique
opportunity to learn the history behind a significant philosophical
movement in modern computer systems. Please arrange your schedule so
you can participate fully in this event.
<br>
<br>
<center><b>Host: Professor Venkat Venkatakrishnan</b></center>
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