Richard Stallman is nuts. Here's why.

#1

Post by diegogomes » Fri, Oct 07, 2011, 11:48 AM UTC

1) He says that you should not own a mobile phone;

2) He criticizes Bill's charities, but have never done anything.

3) He believes in paper voting over machine voting

4) He doesn't use a browser; rather, he uses wget and reads the fetched pages from his e-mail mailbox;

How can someone hear him when he says something like this: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3083349

Re: Richard Stallman is nuts. Here's why.

#2

Post by diegogomes » Fri, Oct 07, 2011, 11:51 AM UTC

This guy confuses software with religion. I wonder what search engine he might use, Google or Bing?

Re: Richard Stallman is nuts. Here's why.

#3

Post by arctangent » Fri, Oct 07, 2011, 11:59 AM UTC

I saw Richard speak recently and I have to say he doesn't come across as being crazy.

However, his world view is very much permeated by the importance of individual freedom and he is somewhat zealous in getting his message out there.

I like to think I have a more pragmatic approach to individual freedom than that - I'm happy to sacrifice freedoms in some areas if they grant me freedoms/abilities in other areas.

Re: Richard Stallman is nuts. Here's why.

#4

Post by rman666 » Fri, Oct 07, 2011, 12:01 PM UTC

Yes, he's crazy (aren't we all?) but he knows how to dance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pube5Aynsls

Re: Richard Stallman is nuts. Here's why.

#5

Post by GermTheGeek » Fri, Oct 07, 2011, 12:05 PM UTC

diegogomes wrote: post #2

This guy confuses software with religion. I wonder what search engine he might use, Google or Bing?

Probably something like Duck Duck Go, or something.

Re: Richard Stallman is nuts. Here's why.

#6

Post by bmelton » Fri, Oct 07, 2011, 12:08 PM UTC

arctangent wrote: post #3

I saw Richard speak recently and I have to say he doesn't come across as being crazy. However, his world view is very much permeated by the importance of individual freedom and he is somewhat zealous in getting his message out there. I like to think I have a more pragmatic approach to individual freedom than that - I'm happy to sacrifice freedoms in some areas if they grant me freedoms/abilities in other areas.

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin

Re: Richard Stallman is nuts. Here's why.

#7

Post by noodly » Fri, Oct 07, 2011, 12:16 PM UTC

Oh noes, Stallman is nuts :(

1) So what ?

2) He did few things. He launched Free Software Movement, started Free Software Foundation, and GNU project. He is main author of GPL :)

3) So what ?

4) So what ?

"How can someone hear him when he says something like this: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3083349 "

Because he's not hypocrite.

Re: Richard Stallman is nuts. Here's why.

#8

Post by mooism2 » Fri, Oct 07, 2011, 12:20 PM UTC

I believe in paper voting over machine voting. (Actually, I believe in paper voting; I'm happy for machines to count the vote, but I want to make my vote on paper.)

The vote counting process has to be transparent, and closed source voting machines are not transparent.

Are you calling me nuts as well?

Re: Richard Stallman is nuts. Here's why.

#9

Post by Greg12x » Fri, Oct 07, 2011, 12:35 PM UTC

4) He doesn't use a browser; rather, he uses wget and reads the fetched pages from his e-mail mailbox;

Haha. AWESOME.

Re: Richard Stallman is nuts. Here's why.

#10

Post by josephg » Fri, Oct 07, 2011, 12:56 PM UTC

bmelton wrote: post #6

arctangent wrote: post #3

I saw Richard speak recently and I have to say he doesn't come across as being crazy. However, his world view is very much permeated by the importance of individual freedom and he is somewhat zealous in getting his message out there. I like to think I have a more pragmatic approach to individual freedom than that - I'm happy to sacrifice freedoms in some areas if they grant me freedoms/abilities in other areas.

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin

I really like that quote too, but that doesn't make it true.

Being able to freely develop software on all the CPUs I own isn't an essential freedom.