The University of Pavia, in Italy, recently awarded Richard Stallman with an honorary degree. Stallman gave a short speech, his “lectio doctoralis”, on the ethical imperative to use free software, focussing on individuals and schools. The speech has been transcribed by Alessandro Rubini, with checking by Dora Scillipoti and Luca Andreucci. The transcript text, with translations, will later be re-published in a more permanent location. I will add a link to the permanent location when I know it.

Below is the table of contents for a transcript I just put online of a 2006 talk by Richard Stallman on “Free Software and the Future of Freedom”.

Twenty years ago, someone made a transcript of a free software talk he gave in Stocholm. There are quite a lot of similarities between the 2006 version and 1986 version.

Here’s the 2006 transcript:

• http://fsfeurope.org/documents/rms-fs-2006-03-09.en.html