<a href="http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/crazyone.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/crazyone.html</a><p>Seriously though, rms, is one of the principal founders of the free software philosophy, and creator of the GPL, upon which some significant software has been licensed.  He's consistent in his vision, which is freedom, and can reliably be looked to for guidance on topics regarding those freedoms.<p>Can you identify even three people who have had as significant impact on free (as in speech) software?<p>[edit - I don't mean people like linus, who create great software, but people who develop/evangelize free software philosophies - Theo De Raadt comes to mind - there aren't too many others that I can think of right away]