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BYTE Interview With Richard Stallman (1986)

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Re: BYTE Interview With Richard Stallman (1986)

#11

Post by acqq »

People forget this too:

Stallman: "I have nearly finished the optimizing C compiler and all the other software that is needed for running C programs. This includes a source-level debugger that has many features that the other source-level debuggers on Unix don't have."

He refers to gcc and gdb:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman

"Stallman has also developed a number of pieces of widely used software, including the original Emacs,[5] the GNU Compiler Collection,[6] the GNU Debugger,[7] and various tools in the GNU coreutils.[8]"

That's one successful hacker.

Re: BYTE Interview With Richard Stallman (1986)

#12

Post by Proleps »

I sometimes feel like the world is moving away from the FSF principals more then it is moving towards it. Nobody seems to be in control of their own devices, software and data anymore.

Data is stored in the cloud, applications are remotely removed from you're IPhone, you have to log in to play offline games, phones send all sorts off personal data to third parties.

This is all happening in a time where free software is easy to get and hard drives are cheap enough to store all the data you want :(.

Re: BYTE Interview With Richard Stallman (1986)

#13

Post by S4M »

Proleps wrote: post #12

I sometimes feel like the world is moving away from the FSF principals more then it is moving towards it. Nobody seems to be in control of their own devices, software and data anymore. Data is stored in the cloud, applications are remotely removed from you're IPhone, you have to log in to play offline games, phones send all sorts off personal data to third parties. This is all happening in a time where free software…

What is even sadder is that most of the systems that are taking away from the users the control of their data and applications have been built (at least in part) thanks to free software.

Re: BYTE Interview With Richard Stallman (1986)

#14

Post by mike-cardwell »

Proleps wrote: post #12

I sometimes feel like the world is moving away from the FSF principals more then it is moving towards it. Nobody seems to be in control of their own devices, software and data anymore. Data is stored in the cloud, applications are remotely removed from you're IPhone, you have to log in to play offline games, phones send all sorts off personal data to third parties. This is all happening in a time where free software…

The sort of technology you're talking about is in its very, very early infancy. We've no idea how the landscape is going to look 20 years from now. I don't think there's any reason to be pessimistic about the future. We have rapidly improving, free, desktop, tablet and phone operating systems and an open web.

I can't wait to see the impact that Mozillas new mobile OS they're releasing in the first quarter of next year has. It sounds like it is going to be "more free" than Android, and much easier to develop for. The Linux desktop is "not there" yet, but it is becoming more user friendly every year, and rapidly. Ubuntu is a god send.

Re: BYTE Interview With Richard Stallman (1986)

#15

Post by bitdiddle »

kilowatt wrote: post #6

Wow. I was one year old when this was published. Stallman's combination of sort-of-maddeningly-precise nerdspeak and revolutionary zeal has always made me cock my head and listen--if not to every word, then at least to some of his more apt analogies: "I think it is important to say that information is different from material objects like cars and loaves of bread because people can copy it and share it on their own an…

Interesting thought, I'm of that era, I began programming after graduate school in 1983, and remember the beginning of GNU well, as well as the fork that is called "open source".

I find it interesting to hear arguments that open source has more or less shown that "free software" is no longer so relevant. I agree that the FSF has been somewhat marginalized but I don't think that bodes well for the future of programming.

Ebon Moglen also writes and speaks well on many of the political and economics aspects of software as it relates to property and law. Many American indian tribes, .eg., treated land and resources as common but treated things like a teepee painting and even a brave's name as property. It's complicated :)

Re: BYTE Interview With Richard Stallman (1986)

#16

Post by cperciva »

tdrgabi wrote: post #8
jorahmormont wrote: post #2

BYTE: What are you going to do when you are done with the GNU system? Stallman: I'm not sure. Sometimes I think that what I'll go on to do is the same thing in other areas of software. He's 60 this year. He was crying on a staircase this year in Spain. Someone stole his laptop.

also his passport. If I understand correctly, he was distressed he can't get to Brasil for his next talk. Also future talks will also be affected. Imagine how bad it is to lose your passport in a foreign country. Instead of catching the flight next day you have a visit at the embassy and a lot of waiting.

Instead of catching the flight next day you have a visit at the embassy

FYI, it would technically be a consulate which helps someone whose passport has been stolen; embassies deal with relations between governments, not with providing assistance to individuals.

(It's a common point of confusion, but one which might be useful to have straight if your passport ever gets stolen!)

Re: BYTE Interview With Richard Stallman (1986)

#17

Post by rbanffy »

mike-cardwell wrote: post #14
Proleps wrote: post #12

I sometimes feel like the world is moving away from the FSF principals more then it is moving towards it. Nobody seems to be in control of their own devices, software and data anymore. Data is stored in the cloud, applications are remotely removed from you're IPhone, you have to log in to play offline games, phones send all sorts off personal data to third parties. This is all happening in a time where free software…

The sort of technology you're talking about is in its very, very early infancy. We've no idea how the landscape is going to look 20 years from now. I don't think there's any reason to be pessimistic about the future. We have rapidly improving, free, desktop, tablet and phone operating systems and an open web. I can't wait to see the impact that Mozillas new mobile OS they're releasing in the first quarter of next yea…

The reason for not being optimistic is that lots of people are touting UEFI locked bootloaders as a step in the right direction (under the excuse of security) while most of the rest will look at those crippled subsidized Win8 ARM tablets and say "look! shiny!".

Sadly, "Idiocracy" is a prophetic movie...

Re: BYTE Interview With Richard Stallman (1986)

#18

Post by rbanffy »

sounds wrote: post #10

There were all kinds of interesting articles in BYTE. I remember finding a whole box of them when I was still in grade school - tossed out by the public library - and I spent the summer reading and memorizing them. Somehow I missed this interview until now. Cheers, Stallman!

I've probably failed a couple tests in engineering school (took fluid mechanics 3 times) because of the time I spent reading the library's almost complete collection.

BYTE was a magazine for another time, when new didn't mean "the latest, incrementally faster, x86 architecture capable of running Windows".

Wow... I'm really gloomy today.

Re: BYTE Interview With Richard Stallman (1986)

#19

Post by rbanffy »

mike-cardwell wrote: post #7
jorahmormont wrote: post #2

BYTE: What are you going to do when you are done with the GNU system? Stallman: I'm not sure. Sometimes I think that what I'll go on to do is the same thing in other areas of software. He's 60 this year. He was crying on a staircase this year in Spain. Someone stole his laptop.

And yet the guy is almost certainly an order of magnitude more successful and respected than you.

I had no idea jorahmormont was that successful or respected ;-)

I wish I were one order of magnitude less accomplished than rms...

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