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Richard Stallman answers Reddit's top 25 questions.

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Re: Richard Stallman answers Reddit's top 25 questions.

#111

Post by smallblacksun »

dasil003 wrote: post #104

Hats off to Richard Stallman. Whatever your views on software—and by default most people will disagree with him on many points—his contributions to the software world are undeniable. There are a lot of fundamentalists out there, and 99% of the time they scare the shit out of me because of what their unchecked advocacy could ultimately lead to. Stallman's fundamentalism on the other hand, does not seem likely to ever…

His anti-business views, if widely adopted, would lead to a massive economic meltdown.

Re: Richard Stallman answers Reddit's top 25 questions.

#112

Post by jscn »

sprout wrote: post #56
moxiemk1 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I normally have the same sentiment about RMS, but one of his responses here really ticked me off in the 'clarity of purpose' department: The bit about the microwaves (#23) 'Installing software' is a fairly abstract concept, especially given how liberally RMS likes to see the GPL used beyond normal software. To that end, I think that if he were truly logically pure, the same logic would apply to the iPhone. But, he wo…

Your comparison of the microwave to the iPhone is just false. The point is that if the software is simple enough that it's pretty obviously bug-free, and you have no reasonable need to tinker with it, there's no reason you should need the source for the microcontroller. If the controller isn't working, the source is probably not going to help you. You just need a new microcontroller. On the flip side, there's no reas…

When I heard RMS speak a few years ago, he made the distinction between devices like microwaves, and general purpose computing devices. The latter you want to be running Free Software. But for the former it's not really an issue.

Unfortunately, the line between the two is blurry at best. For example, I'm not sure how well this jives with the case of the printer software which provided the catalyst for RMS starting the FS movement in the first place.

Re: Richard Stallman answers Reddit's top 25 questions.

#113

Post by jseliger »

angusgr wrote: post #90
tptacek wrote: post #40

Here is someone who really, really needs to read Saul Alinsky: 15. MendaSpain: Hi Richard. I love all GPL software, but I have a dilemma: I'm writing a program which needs a lot of time to be coded but at the same time it's really easy to be used. I could license it as GPL and wait for donations, but from other people's experience just almost nobody make donations to free software projects. Support is not necessary b…

I'm not sure I follow. Any chance you could elaborate at all?

Saul Alinsky wrote a number of books about community organizing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_for_Radicals , including Rules for Radicals and Reveille for Radicals. Community organizing is about bringing people in communities together and helping them achieve some kind of goal; in the case of Alinsky, he was envisioning physical communities that needed things like coops, particular kinds of government services, and the like.

One of his major principles is that the community organizer has to help people see why it's in their best interest to organize or make change. According to Alinsky, arguing that people should agitate and work for change because of the common good or because the change is the right thing simply doesn't work.

I believe the OP is saying that Stallman isn't doing a great job of incorporating that aspect of Alinsky's principles and in doing so is setting back the free software movement.

EDIT: I just read a little further down in the thread and saw this: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1559283 : "The problem with Free Software is a marketing problem." That's similar to an Alinsky comment, although in different language: if you can't "market" the change you're trying to encourage by making people realize why it benefits them, you're not going to make that change happen.

Re: Richard Stallman answers Reddit's top 25 questions.

#114

Post by Jach »

celoyd wrote: post #74
tjr wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GNU is such an ugly logo. A few years ago I asked Duane Bibby to do some artwork for The GNU C Reference Manual . I rather like his whimsical approach on the gnu... http://www.gnu.org/software/gnu-c-manual/gnu-db-1.jpg

Whimsical line art of the ugly, hairy wildebeest. Dot dot dot. If GNU wants to brand itself to anyone other than hardcore hackers, it’s probably going to need the kind of logo that hardcore hackers will complain is generic and corporate-looking. The 1975–era homebrew esthetic is exactly the kind of surface feature that people dismiss RMS for. (Not that he’d necessarily be super popular even if he were a charismatic L…

I don't consider myself a hardcore hacker, but I certainly enjoy the GNU (along with Tux) far more than a frikkin Window or an Apple. Changing the name/logo would be a step in the wrong direction.

I wasn't aware that GNU tools had a marketing problem, since they're all over the place, even in business worlds. Leave the marketing to the distros and programmer employees.

Re: Richard Stallman answers Reddit's top 25 questions.

#115

Post by zerohp »

dedward wrote: post #103
koeselitz wrote: post #68

Somebody get that guy a parrot, stat.

If he said anything different, everyone would be chastizing him for flip-flopping - but when he stands his ground - we need to get him a parrot? At least he's consistent.

The comment was referring to Stallman's statement that if he did not travel and could care for a pet, he would get a parrot. It was not derogatory.

Re: Richard Stallman answers Reddit's top 25 questions.

#116

Post by dman »

mattmanser wrote: post #109
avar wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Bill and Melinda Gates have done tremendous good in the world, and anyone who thinks otherwise is either crude or uninformed. Their foundation has done a lot of good, but it doesn't exist in a vacuum. Why does it have all that money in the first place? Well, mostly because Microsoft managed to work itself into a monopoly position with dirty tactics, and the proliferation of their own proprietary file formats. This…

This is an extremely naive diatribe. There are few OSS projects that have done anything more than steal ideas from commercial software in terms of innovation. Programming languages are the only place I can think of that OSS is cutting edge. MS pushed the boundaries of software to the extreme. Go look at any of their competitors at the age of their dominance. Man, look at Netscape navigator in its bloated unusable for…

“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish and you have fed him for a lifetime".

Re: Richard Stallman answers Reddit's top 25 questions.

#117

Post by sandee »

To all those, who find RMS weird and eccentric :

PG > Sounds pretty eccentric, doesn't it? It always will when you're trying to solve problems where there are no customs yet to guide you. ... We'll increasingly be defined by what we say no to. http://www.paulgraham.com/addiction.html

RMS was the first to venture into the new world of OpenSource , software freedom .. and so he has all the traits of early explorer.

Re: Richard Stallman answers Reddit's top 25 questions.

#118

Post by zacharypinter »

dedward wrote: post #103
koeselitz wrote: post #68

Somebody get that guy a parrot, stat.

If he said anything different, everyone would be chastizing him for flip-flopping - but when he stands his ground - we need to get him a parrot? At least he's consistent.

You seem to be implying that the parent comment was an insult. RMS said he wanted a parrot:

> No. I spend most of my time travelling, so I could not have any pets.

> If it were possible, I would like to have a friendly parrot.

Re: Richard Stallman answers Reddit's top 25 questions.

#119

Post by moxiemk1 »

sprout wrote: post #56
moxiemk1 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I normally have the same sentiment about RMS, but one of his responses here really ticked me off in the 'clarity of purpose' department: The bit about the microwaves (#23) 'Installing software' is a fairly abstract concept, especially given how liberally RMS likes to see the GPL used beyond normal software. To that end, I think that if he were truly logically pure, the same logic would apply to the iPhone. But, he wo…

Your comparison of the microwave to the iPhone is just false. The point is that if the software is simple enough that it's pretty obviously bug-free, and you have no reasonable need to tinker with it, there's no reason you should need the source for the microcontroller. If the controller isn't working, the source is probably not going to help you. You just need a new microcontroller. On the flip side, there's no reas…

Reasons why you want to tinker with the software? I can come up with plenty.

The point is not that the iPhone should be considered the same as a microwave, but that there is no hard line. If you are going to be a fundamentalist, like RMS, you need to carry it through to all things. There is no point where a microwave becomes definably different than an iPhone. Its a continuum.

Re: Richard Stallman answers Reddit's top 25 questions.

#120

Post by moxiemk1 »

Aaronontheweb wrote: post #60

"I faced the same question at the beginning of the GNU Project. I decided that I would rather do something good with no monetary reward than profit by mistreating people." Thank God Stallman helped all of those sick kids with Malaria in Africa with by giving them GIMP and GCC. Way better than the billions of dollars and thousands of vaccinations Bill and Melinda Gates gave to them. In all seriousness, if we're going…

Stallman's words are framed by his belief that freedom (as he defines it) is more important than doing the job. That is why he isn't giving proprietary vaccines to sick children.
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