How would we judge that?<p>Per Wikipedia, Stallman wrote the GPLv1 in 1989. I wasn&#x27;t even born then.<p>Moreover, I doubt this is a good argument. Would the Mill (youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=QyzlEYspqTI) be possible using Free Software (consider the GCC exceptions were pushed <i>way</i> too late, circa 2009 per gnu.org <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.gnu.org&#x2F;licenses&#x2F;gcc-exception-3.1.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.gnu.org&#x2F;licenses&#x2F;gcc-exception-3.1.html</a>)?<p>Would Linux even exist without at least BSD having been released?<p>I&#x27;m more of a copyleft than a &#x27;BSD libertarian&#x27;, but I don&#x27;t think we can look at RMS&#x27;s contribution by comparing what was before and what is now if for no other reason because it&#x27;s impossible to separate what is due to copyleft, what is due to BSD-style and what is due to a mixture of both.