>With regard to the use of this honorific, the policies of institutions of higher education generally ask that recipients "refrain from adopting the misleading title" and that a recipient of an honorary doctorate should restrict the use of the title "Dr" before their name to any engagement with the institution of higher education in question and not within the broader community.
This, however, does not overshadow his contribution to computing and I must say that as of 2025, he has been right about most things (with the possible exception of secure boot).
I appreciate the concern and agree that RMS has been extraordinarily influential in the field of computing. We will be posting videos of the event afterward, so if you’re interested in hearing what he has to say in 2025, please keep an eye out!
Taking about physics still always seemed to make him happy. I was once tempted to invite him to a study session for a QM class I was taking. He helped me with a problem set and his explanations were WAY clearer than the professor's or TA's. I think his understanding of the subject was simply better than theirs.
GCC was surely worth a non-honorary CS PhD all by itself. I can say that because the guy who wrote LLVM got one for doing basically the same thing 30 years later.
(Bob used to say that he was planning to get a PhD by the “green stamp method,” namely by saving envelopes addressed to him as “Dr. Floyd.” After collecting 500 such letters, he mused, a university somewhere in Arizona would probably grant him a degree.)
I suppose that Stallman must have received enough letters.
If you’ll be in Atlanta that week - or simply want the opportunity to see and meet Dr. Stallman - this is a rare chance you won’t want to miss!
It is an honor and achievement of a society that Richard Stallman may speak and say what he chooses to say, in 2025.
> It is an honor and achievement of a society that Richard Stallman may speak and say what he chooses to say, in 2025.
Georgia Tech, as a public institution, takes the First Amendment very seriously (see: https://provost.gatech.edu/academic-freedom-and-freedom-expr...). Our student organization has worked hard with the College of Computing and other members of the administration to ensure that all of RMS's requests have been met.
RMS is free to speak his mind, everyone else is free to ask him anything so long as it’s during our Q&A session. We will not be charging any fees for attending the event, space is first come first served.