Ok, 2 seconds in and I'm shocked. All my life I pronounced gnu as new, like Nutella.
The name of the animal has a silent g. In software that would be a bit too confusing, though. "Do you use make?" "N-E-W or G-N-U?"
Richard Stallman Explains [video]
41–50 of 207 posts
Re: Richard Stallman Explains [video]
#42Great video!
However, I would like to point out that the name "Richard Stallman" is incorrect. Who you're referring to here should actually be called "GNU/Richard Stallman"
Re: Richard Stallman Explains [video]
#43I was amazed to see that Stallman doesn't install his OS himself - hasn't for years. He seemed diminished in my eyes after I learnt this.
Stallman reminds me of a king who has everything done by servants and knows only what his courtiers tell him. Being free of menial tasks like installing software leaves him more time to tackle serious issues. But it also insulates him from the problems that real people face.
Surely he takes care of his own parrots.
Re: Richard Stallman Explains [video]
#44I suppose it's a philosophy. Are there enough who share Stallman's view to advance computing technology at a pace that can match what we see with commercial sector? For sure, I am amazed at the power and scope of open source software and it's a highly influential movement. But at some point in the food chain, software developers need to put food on the table and send their kids to school. How does that happen if all software is free?
Re: Richard Stallman Explains [video]
#45I suppose it's a philosophy. Are there enough who share Stallman's view to advance computing technology at a pace that can match what we see with commercial sector? For sure, I am amazed at the power and scope of open source software and it's a highly influential movement. But at some point in the food chain, software developers need to put food on the table and send their kids to school. How does that happen if all…
> But at some point in the food chain, software developers need to put food on the table and send their kids to school. How does that happen if all software is free?
Please note "free" has nothing to do with price, but with end-user freedom (to use/study/modify/share).
(example answer to your question: custom/internal software).
Re: Richard Stallman Explains [video]
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Stallman reminds me of a king who has everything done by servants and knows only what his courtiers tell him. Being free of menial tasks like installing software leaves him more time to tackle serious issues. But it also insulates him from the problems that real people face.
Surely he takes care of his own parrots.
I find your comment unduly harsh and disrespectful, both toward Stallman and his crew. And I don't even like the guy.
Re: Richard Stallman Explains [video]
#47I feel like we're not far off from a digital version of the Amish. "Technology was perfected by the FSF in 2003; everything developed since is evil."
Everything developed by big companies that deals with our data on their premises is evil. We should simply not allow that, and let big companies just develop the hardware.
I mean, given the recent and continuing rash of hardware backdoors, wouldn't that just make your premises their premises?
Re: Richard Stallman Explains [video]
#48I feel like we're not far off from a digital version of the Amish. "Technology was perfected by the FSF in 2003; everything developed since is evil."
I think you're completely missing the point. RMS and FSF have never claimed to even create an adequate free-software ecosystem, let alone perfect. They celebrate tons of free software progress since then and maintain a high-priority list for things that are yet to do: https://www.fsf.org/campaigns/priority-projects/
Many people confuse this, but being critical of ethical problems with the way technology is built in practice need not have anything to do with being anti-technology in general.
Re: Richard Stallman Explains [video]
#49I suppose it's a philosophy. Are there enough who share Stallman's view to advance computing technology at a pace that can match what we see with commercial sector? For sure, I am amazed at the power and scope of open source software and it's a highly influential movement. But at some point in the food chain, software developers need to put food on the table and send their kids to school. How does that happen if all…
> But at some point in the food chain, software developers need to put food on the table and send their kids to school. How does that happen if all software is free? Please note "free" has nothing to do with price, but with end-user freedom (to use/study/modify/share). (example answer to your question: custom/internal software).
It actually does have to do with price. All free software is one user away from the possibility (likelihood) it is free as in beer.
The parent comment is correct that free software has put magnitudes less food on kids bellies.
Re: Richard Stallman Explains [video]
#50I suppose it's a philosophy. Are there enough who share Stallman's view to advance computing technology at a pace that can match what we see with commercial sector? For sure, I am amazed at the power and scope of open source software and it's a highly influential movement. But at some point in the food chain, software developers need to put food on the table and send their kids to school. How does that happen if all…
RedHat , Sentry , gitlab elastic.co all take away some pain point while their source code for these projects are available. RedHat provides Enterprise support , Sentry , elastic and gitlab offer hosted services . Even GNU software when Stallman was originally distributing it on physical media had an associated cost of distribution with a profit margin .