Screenshots from developers: 2002 vs. 2015 (2015)

Post by tormeh » Sun, Dec 07, 2025, 9:48 AM UTC

ekjhgkejhgk wrote: post #103

9dev wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heavens, thank you. It’s like people assume genius when RMS wiggles his little toe and wonder what grand intellectual insight might have moved Him to do so.

Stallman has been right so many times, usually decades ahead of time. On each hype cycle when most of us were bewildering at the latest shiny thing, Stallman was spelling out exactly how companies would use it to exploit us. And I'm not talking about obvious garbage with zero upside like crypto and IoT, I'm talking about more subtle hype that actually did have a degree of upside, like the cloud or javascript for exam…

Post by johannes1234321 » Sun, Dec 07, 2025, 10:15 AM UTC

ekjhgkejhgk wrote: post #27

krackers wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This makes sense if you want to reject the modern web, but using lynx or w3m would work as well. But if you generally want to champion free software and put the "personal" in PC, then I think you necessarily need to familiarize yourself with modern computing or else you can't really have a good opinion on it. For instance, if you refuse to play around with LLMs out of some dogmatic reason that they're not "truly" ope…

No, you don't know what the reasons are. You're assuming he just wants to avoid graphical interfaces. That might not be the reason. In fact, I suspect that it has to do privacy, where lynx won't help you.

Post by agumonkey » Sun, Dec 07, 2025, 10:30 AM UTC

dotancohen wrote: post #97

jasongill wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I met RMS at the Atlanta Linux Showcase in 1998. In the area with vendor booths in the lobby area of the show, he had laid down a blanket and was sitting in the middle with his legs crossed. He had printed copies of man pages printed and stapled together with covers laid out in front of him. I walked up and introduced myself and said that I was a big fan, appreciated his hard work, etc. He looked at me coldly and jus…

For what it's worth, I've never met the guy but I wrote to him once regarding the image of free software that people who are selling unsupported LibreOffice CDs are causing. He was willing to civilly discuss and listen to a different point of view. We never reached agreement, but I felt that so long as an interesting twist on something dear to him is being discussed, he is patient for discourse.

Post by agumonkey » Sun, Dec 07, 2025, 10:35 AM UTC

adalacelove wrote: post #57

Almondsetat wrote: post #24

RMS to me is really a curious case. He doesn't know how to install GNU+Linux and relies on others to do it. He doesn't know how to take a screenshot, and I remember reading other snippets from him about not knowing how to perform other basic tasks.

Most screenshots for these well known guys are quite boring. Coincidence? I think if you want to be good at something you need focus.

Post by anthk » Sun, Dec 07, 2025, 10:44 AM UTC

Boxxed wrote: post #65

Almondsetat wrote: post #24

RMS to me is really a curious case. He doesn't know how to install GNU+Linux and relies on others to do it. He doesn't know how to take a screenshot, and I remember reading other snippets from him about not knowing how to perform other basic tasks.

I once asked a YC alum, "Got any good Paul Graham stories?" And he had a couple; apparently the dude would often ask for help with basic tech things like setting up his wireless. Same kind of thing, I guess.