But my understanding is that RMS created the free software ideal, formalized as the GPL, that an author freely sharing code with others can in turn require them to freely share any changes and improvements they make to it. If he wasn't the first to think of it, he certainly was the one to codify and popularize it. And it all makes sense to me when viewed through the lens of his frustrating printer driver experience.
But my understanding is that RMS created the free software ideal, formalized as the GPL, that an author freely sharing code with others can in turn require them to freely share any changes and improvements they make to it. If he wasn't the first to think of it, he certainly was the one to codify and popularize it. And it all makes sense to me when viewed through the lens of his frustrating printer driver experience.