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The Shaggy God - Richard Stallman in Boston Magazine

bostonmagazine.com

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Re: The Shaggy God - Richard Stallman in Boston Magazine

#11

Post by me2i81 »

ojbyrne wrote: post #5
sophist wrote: post #3

He's taking credit for Linux now? wtf?

I believe his argument is that just about everything outside the kernel came from the FSF. It's not entirely implausible but he is obnoxious about it. Apparently just insisting that it be called "GNU/Linux" wasn't too successful.

gcc was an important piece of work that Stallman started. The rest of the GNU stuff was a bunch of knock-off code because the original code was bound up in lawsuits (just like the kernel) or later replicated because of licensing purity of essence concerns. Writing a second verson of tar, cpio, cron, etc. hardly counts as a great piece of innovation, and Stallman is kind of a git for acting like it is. The thing about Linux is that Torvalds just went ahead and wrote it, rather than wanking about it for years and years like Stallman did.

Re: The Shaggy God - Richard Stallman in Boston Magazine

#12

Post by gaius »

ojbyrne wrote: post #5
sophist wrote: post #3

He's taking credit for Linux now? wtf?

I believe his argument is that just about everything outside the kernel came from the FSF. It's not entirely implausible but he is obnoxious about it. Apparently just insisting that it be called "GNU/Linux" wasn't too successful.

I guess if GNU had actually produced HURD back in the day Linux would be forgotten or never have happened, but what's done is done now.

Re: The Shaggy God - Richard Stallman in Boston Magazine

#13

Post by coffeeaddicted »

I understand why Stallman wants the GNU in GNU/Linux. But what's always confusing me is - why the slash? He's a programmer, so he knows that this is usually used for paths. But that does not seem to make sense if he wants this as a single name which should always be used. You can't create a single GNU/Linux folder - at least not in GNU/Linux. So anyone know why he didn't use another character there?

Re: The Shaggy God - Richard Stallman in Boston Magazine

#14

Post by mattmaroon »

cmcginnis wrote: post #8
wallflower wrote: post #4

"Strictly speaking, the complete operating system should have been called GNU/Linux, representing the combined contributions of Stallman and Torvalds. Stallman always insists on the term, pronouncing it "GNU slash Linux." But in the popular mind, it came to be known as only Linux. Stallman has never gotten over that." The more I read about Stallman the more I find that his extreme stance is just who he is: "He's enti…

Consistency in itself is not much of a virtue.

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds"

-Emerson

Re: The Shaggy God - Richard Stallman in Boston Magazine

#15

Post by davidw »

wallflower wrote: post #4

"Strictly speaking, the complete operating system should have been called GNU/Linux, representing the combined contributions of Stallman and Torvalds. Stallman always insists on the term, pronouncing it "GNU slash Linux." But in the popular mind, it came to be known as only Linux. Stallman has never gotten over that." The more I read about Stallman the more I find that his extreme stance is just who he is: "He's enti…

I'm glad he exists, though, because he makes me look like a moderate, even though I'm a pretty dedicated free software fan.

Re: The Shaggy God - Richard Stallman in Boston Magazine

#17

Post by andreyf »

mattmaroon wrote: post #14
cmcginnis wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consistency in itself is not much of a virtue.

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds" -Emerson

Emerson is talking about people that are consistent for fear of admitting they were wrong. I don't think Stallman's consistency is that kind...

Re: The Shaggy God - Richard Stallman in Boston Magazine

#18

Post by narag »

gaius wrote: post #6
mixmax wrote: post #2

"The most momentous product of Stallman's genius, Linux, was the first operating system to feature software that was entirely free." I believe this is not entirely accurate - I seem to remember someone else being involved in creating linux...

Well, that someone used GCC and the first thing they ran on their new kernel was Bash ;-)

:-) It's curious that nobody seems to remember that "that someone" ported GCC to x86.

Re: The Shaggy God - Richard Stallman in Boston Magazine

#19

Post by gwniobombux »

narag wrote: post #18
gaius wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, that someone used GCC and the first thing they ran on their new kernel was Bash ;-)

:-) It's curious that nobody seems to remember that "that someone" ported GCC to x86.

That credit is probably due to William Schelter. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Schelter

Re: The Shaggy God - Richard Stallman in Boston Magazine

#20

Post by robg »

Can anyone answer for me how Stallman has influenced the Cambridge tech community? What was interesting, as the author envisons "Mt. Hackmore", is that Stallman is the only East Coaster in that circle. Makes me think that in combining his personality and ethos with the venture community in Boston you could perhaps explain the very conservative investment environment.
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