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Why Open Source Misses the Point of Free Software (2007)

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Re: Why Open Source Misses the Point of Free Software (2007)

#181

Post by craigsmansion »

malvosenior wrote: post #30
jnwatson wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So just because he happens to be the president of an organization means he can’t defend his colleague on an unrelated private message board? The chilling effect of such a policy essentially means that all advocacy groups must be led by slick marketing politicians, always on-point and on-brand, even if off camera.

If he’s defending his colleague having sex with a 17 year old who had been trafficked for sex since she was 15, then yes I don’t think any president of an organization should do that.

> If he’s defending

That's a big "if"

Stallman was reviled not for things he didn't do, but for thoughts he didn't think.

Re: Why Open Source Misses the Point of Free Software (2007)

#182

Post by concordDance »

malvosenior wrote: post #43
michannne wrote: post #38

It seems this thread and others like it has fueled a controversial honeypot, as some users are mass-downvoting comments that are perfectly in line with the content posted, simply because they stand for or against ousting Stallman, and others are doing the opposite -- mass upvoting comments that align with their predisposed view of the situation. I'd like to take sometime however to reiterate that freedom applies to a…

As you can see in this thread and everywhere else it’s been recently discussed, Stallnan’s actions have detracted from his message. Now we talk about pedophilia because that’s what RMS introduced to an environment that should be discussing free software. He failed his own message by doing that. No one else is to blame.

The pedophilia thing was over a decade ago. The age of consent thing was more recent but that's a separate issue.

Re: Why Open Source Misses the Point of Free Software (2007)

#183

Post by cgriswald »

Smithalicious wrote: post #162
marijn wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He wasn't blacklisted for committing thought crime. The dumb Epstein email triggered a reevaluation of his consistent creepy and inappropriate behavior against current community standards, which resulted in a large part of the community deciding they didn't want anything to do with him anymore. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from social consequences.

Amazing how whenever someone does something controversial and gets forced out soon afterwards, it's never the thing they said, but "consistent creepy and inappropriate behavior" based on 10 year old anecdotes that suddenly appear out of nowhere... I'd think that if someone was "consistently" creepy and inappropriate, there would be a pretty good public record for that, but what do I know? EDIT: Let me give a bit more…

Would there? A friend of a friend hit on my under age sister at a party at my house. He later hit on my girlfriend in front of me in Spanish because he didn’t know I understood. There were witnesses to both events. I’ve gotten a couple complaints from other women attending my parties as well. And he’s always had a “creep” vibe and being generally inappropriate but my friends think of him as “harmless”. I had to tell mutual friends he wasn’t welcome. They had no idea and I’m not sure they really believed me. I’m sure to them this was all a bunch of stories coming out of the woodwork but to me it was suspected in the beginning and confirmed repeatedly over time.

Re: Why Open Source Misses the Point of Free Software (2007)

#184

Post by stelonix »

hdfbdtbcdg wrote: post #172
marijn wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He wasn't blacklisted for committing thought crime. The dumb Epstein email triggered a reevaluation of his consistent creepy and inappropriate behavior against current community standards, which resulted in a large part of the community deciding they didn't want anything to do with him anymore. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from social consequences.

There is another large part of the community that wants no part in the community as a result of events like this. I guess we will end up with two communities one focused on software the other focused on social justice (wokeware). It looks like the social justice community will get the code and trademarks. Fortunately thanks to RMS the code is available to fork. I guess things aren't organised yet but I and others I h…

Interesting, I've been thinking about this myself: whether a new foundation or movement will be created around RMS and without the stigmas that allow people to be "cancelled" over their thoughts or opinions. I have to say, the FSF without RMS simply makes no sense. It's one of those institutions where more than 51% of its effectiveness came from a single person. I firmly believe a "fork" for the FSF is coming soon.

Re: Why Open Source Misses the Point of Free Software (2007)

#187

Post by mackrevinack »

millstone wrote: post #67
knocte wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's because you're seeing the results of the license from the perspective of the developer, not the user.

For a user who is not a software developer, what is the practical difference between GPL and MIT? Is there one?

disclaimer: im a noob when it comes to licences so someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong

a company can take something that is MIT licensed and make part of their closed source application. or they could start out as open source project and then later decide to close source it.

with GPL they could do pretty much the same thing, but the only caveat is they would have to share back any improvements they make to the parts that were gpl licenced.

the first example would cut off a user from being able to access the source and modify it themselves or even worse they might have to start paying a fee to use it.

although I think a company can still charge a fee even if they are using something that is under gpl, but with this scenario people are free to take the source and use it in another project if they wish. if an MIT licence was used then that company is under no obligation to share any improvements they make

Re: Why Open Source Misses the Point of Free Software (2007)

#189

Post by ghaff »

Interestingly, one of the latest contretemps on Twitter etc. Lis the desire by some for open source licenses that restrict usage by purpose or organization. For example, ICE, military, law enforcement, etc.

A much longer discussion obviously but an example where user freedoms more or less are counter to developers being able to restrict what their software gets used for once it’s been released as open source.

Re: Why Open Source Misses the Point of Free Software (2007)

#190

Post by hdfbdtbcdg »

stelonix wrote: post #184
hdfbdtbcdg wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is another large part of the community that wants no part in the community as a result of events like this. I guess we will end up with two communities one focused on software the other focused on social justice (wokeware). It looks like the social justice community will get the code and trademarks. Fortunately thanks to RMS the code is available to fork. I guess things aren't organised yet but I and others I h…

Interesting, I've been thinking about this myself: whether a new foundation or movement will be created around RMS and without the stigmas that allow people to be "cancelled" over their thoughts or opinions. I have to say, the FSF without RMS simply makes no sense. It's one of those institutions where more than 51% of its effectiveness came from a single person. I firmly believe a "fork" for the FSF is coming soon.

We are not alone. It takes a brave person to put their head above the parapet in the current climate.
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