Richard Stallman: How I do my Computing
stallman.org
Richard Stallman: How I do my Computing
1–10 of 293 posts
Re: Richard Stallman: How I do my Computing
#2I view Richard Stallman's attitude to this as though he has set himself up as some kind of social/technological guinea-pig for the general public good.
Yes, he is fanatical in several senses, especially nasal and botanical, by all accounts ( read Stallman does Dallas: http://stallman.org/articles/texas.html ).
But the day that Stallman cannot get on the internet, without compromising his own set of restrictions, is the day when it is literally impossible to have dominion over any computational objects that you think you own.
[edit] for clarity, I thought about this, added the qualifier computational, and am not including abacuses ;)
Re: Richard Stallman: How I do my Computing
#3If you're reading hacker news it probably means you don't share the same rigid commitment to free software as rms and thus his recommendations are virtually useless. I wonder where rms stands on airtravel or using a crosswalk given the non-free software that operates these devices.
Re: Richard Stallman: How I do my Computing
#4I view Richard Stallman's attitude to this as though he has set himself up as some kind of social/technological guinea-pig for the general public good. Yes, he is fanatical in several senses, especially nasal and botanical, by all accounts ( read Stallman does Dallas: http://stallman.org/articles/texas.html ). But the day that Stallman cannot get on the internet, without compromising his own set of restrictions, is t…
Last time I checked iOS (the router OS) is not free, he probably does violate his own principles connecting to the Internet.
Rms is like a vegan always preaching some moral high ground and always violating it whenever it becomes inconvenient.
Re: Richard Stallman: How I do my Computing
#5If you're reading hacker news it probably means you don't share the same rigid commitment to free software as rms and thus his recommendations are virtually useless. I wonder where rms stands on airtravel or using a crosswalk given the non-free software that operates these devices.
From further down the page:
"I don't need to worry about what software is in a kiosk, pay phone, or ATM that I am using. I hope their owners migrate them to free software, for their sake, but there's no need for me to refuse to touch them until then. (I do consider what those machines and their owners might do with my personal data, but that's a different issue. My response to that issue is to minimize those activities which give them any data about me."
Re: Richard Stallman: How I do my Computing
#6If you're reading hacker news it probably means you don't share the same rigid commitment to free software as rms and thus his recommendations are virtually useless. I wonder where rms stands on airtravel or using a crosswalk given the non-free software that operates these devices.
Regarding the rigid commitments, I don't agree that reading HN means that (although of course I doubt that _anyone_ shares rms's full rigid commitment).
Regarding your wondering about air travel and crosswalks, I would say that RMS addresses this concern relatively directly in the featured article.
"Likewise, I don't need to worry about what software is in a kiosk, pay phone, or ATM that I am using. .... That reasoning is based on the fact that I was not responsible for setting up those machines, or for how that was done."
It seems to me that it is generally only fully appropriate to post a top-level comment in the thread of an article if you have read that article.
Re: Richard Stallman: How I do my Computing
#7I view Richard Stallman's attitude to this as though he has set himself up as some kind of social/technological guinea-pig for the general public good. Yes, he is fanatical in several senses, especially nasal and botanical, by all accounts ( read Stallman does Dallas: http://stallman.org/articles/texas.html ). But the day that Stallman cannot get on the internet, without compromising his own set of restrictions, is t…
Last time I checked iOS (the router OS) is not free, he probably does violate his own principles connecting to the Internet. Rms is like a vegan always preaching some moral high ground and always violating it whenever it becomes inconvenient.
oh noes! we are doomed! Run for the hills, we might get a better view.
(yes, you are no doubt correct. I do still view him as an unusual type of rare bearded canary that has decided to take up residence in the coal mine through some form of altruistic bloody-mindedness)
[edit] Plus, whatever you may think of him, he is bloody smart.
Re: Richard Stallman: How I do my Computing
#8I view Richard Stallman's attitude to this as though he has set himself up as some kind of social/technological guinea-pig for the general public good. Yes, he is fanatical in several senses, especially nasal and botanical, by all accounts ( read Stallman does Dallas: http://stallman.org/articles/texas.html ). But the day that Stallman cannot get on the internet, without compromising his own set of restrictions, is t…
Last time I checked iOS (the router OS) is not free, he probably does violate his own principles connecting to the Internet. Rms is like a vegan always preaching some moral high ground and always violating it whenever it becomes inconvenient.
As michael_michael and I replied to your other comment, you have obviously failed to actually read the article in question, and are drawing conclusions without basis, when you claim that using internet routers violates his own stated principles.
RMS is precisely NOT like that type of vegan (not that I think that this is at all typical of vegans, either). If indeed you think that kind of consistency is the highest good, you should hold RMS in very high regard indeed.
Re: Richard Stallman: How I do my Computing
#9If you're reading hacker news it probably means you don't share the same rigid commitment to free software as rms and thus his recommendations are virtually useless. I wonder where rms stands on airtravel or using a crosswalk given the non-free software that operates these devices.
"I firmly refuse to install non-free software or tolerate its installed presence on my computer or on computers set up for me.
"However, if I am visiting somewhere and the machines available nearby happen to contain non-free software, through no doing of mine, I don't refuse to touch them. I will use them briefly for tasks such as browsing. This limited usage doesn't give my assent to the software's license, or make me responsible its being present in the computer, or make me the possessor of a copy of it, so I don't see an ethical obligation to refrain from this. Of course, I explain why they should migrate the machines to free software, but I don't push them hard, because that would be counterproductive.
"Likewise, I don't need to worry about what software is in a kiosk, pay phone, or ATM that I am using. I hope their owners migrate them to free software, for their sake, but there's no need for me to refuse to touch them until then. (I do consider what those machines and their owners might do with my personal data, but that's a different issue. My response to that issue is to minimize those activities which give them any data about me.)
"That reasoning is based on the fact that I was not responsible for setting up those machines, or for how that was done. By contrast, if I were to ask or lead someone to set up a computer for me to use, that would make me ethically responsible for its software load. In such a case I insist on free software, just as if the machine were mine.
"Skype is another kind of exception. Using Skype to talk with someone else who is using Skype is encouraging the other to use nonfree software. So I won't use it under any circumstances."
Re: Richard Stallman: How I do my Computing
#10Oh boy. RMS wrote yet another opinion that we just have to read. I'll be hated for this but I must state the obvious. This is a list of really boring opinions. Interesting for rms fanatics but many are barely explained and most aren't realistic to actually try out unless you want to be a software philosopher for a living. Did people just see Stallman in the title and up vote? Come on.