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It’s always said when the worst dystopic visions become truth. [1] http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.en.html [2] http://www.wired.com/2015/04/dmca-ownership-john-deere/
It's a pretty hard stretch to qualify our society as dystopic because of John Deere and kindle
Trust is indeed a huge issue that seems to be misunderstood and misapplied in the software community. Stallman's views on trust may seem radical, but he's pretty much right. Over and over I see the things he warns about come true and I trust companies and other entities less and less. It's kind of disheartening to see the huge potential of cloud infrastructure, amongst other technologies, going to waste.
His views only seem radical because of the way he presents them. Easily his biggest mistake is naming his movement Free Software instead of something like Software Liberties or Software Rights, and then refusing to change the name at any point after the realization of this error. Then he says things like, "They're trying to put a cloud inside your head." Which is just laughable. Most of the time he's speaking very ge…
> Why Open Source misses the point of Free Software
> When we call software “free,” we mean that it respects the users' essential freedoms: the freedom to run it, to study and change it, and to redistribute copies with or without changes. This is a matter of freedom, not price, so think of “free speech,” not “free beer.”
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point....
> Who does that server really serve?
> On the Internet, proprietary software isn't the only way to lose your freedom. Service as a Software Substitute, or SaaSS, is another way to give someone else power over your computing.
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/who-does-that-server-really-s...
Trust is indeed a huge issue that seems to be misunderstood and misapplied in the software community. Stallman's views on trust may seem radical, but he's pretty much right. Over and over I see the things he warns about come true and I trust companies and other entities less and less. It's kind of disheartening to see the huge potential of cloud infrastructure, amongst other technologies, going to waste.
There is also lots of points where he's pretty detached from reality. One reason he doesn't browse the web is that non free software javascript would somehow hurt him. He's the reason why GCC is so monolithic and why so much progress was hindered in the last years. He thinks that non-copyleft licensed projects can't work when there are tons of counterexamples.
Not using social media is considered a badge of honor by many. Not using the web (although that's not entirely true in RMS' case, he just heavily limits it [1]) should be considered a commendable feat, too. Since it's RMS, though, it's just another opportunity to disparage him.
He thinks that non-copyleft licensed projects can't work when there are tons of counterexamples.
Where has he said they "can't" work? The FSF lists scenarios where they endorse non-copyleft here: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-recommendations.html
RMS himself has encouraged use of non-copyleft in the cases of e.g. Qt and Ogg Vorbis, either as transitional licenses or as means to free up the software when the alternative would have been remaining proprietary. He says as much here: https://lwn.net/2001/0301/a/rms-ov-license.php3
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is also lots of points where he's pretty detached from reality. One reason he doesn't browse the web is that non free software javascript would somehow hurt him. He's the reason why GCC is so monolithic and why so much progress was hindered in the last years. He thinks that non-copyleft licensed projects can't work when there are tons of counterexamples.
One reason he doesn't browse the web is that non free software javascript would somehow hurt him. Not using social media is considered a badge of honor by many. Not using the web (although that's not entirely true in RMS' case, he just heavily limits it [1]) should be considered a commendable feat, too. Since it's RMS, though, it's just another opportunity to disparage him. He thinks that non-copyleft licensed projec…
Sure, but why? Because it's difficult? Because it's useless newfangled morally-corrupting stuff?
Not using the web ... should be considered a commendable feat, too.
Again, why? The web is useful. Is it also commendable to cook all your own food from scratch, do all your laundry by hand, avoid use of electricity, etc?
Trust is indeed a huge issue that seems to be misunderstood and misapplied in the software community. Stallman's views on trust may seem radical, but he's pretty much right. Over and over I see the things he warns about come true and I trust companies and other entities less and less. It's kind of disheartening to see the huge potential of cloud infrastructure, amongst other technologies, going to waste.
There is also lots of points where he's pretty detached from reality. One reason he doesn't browse the web is that non free software javascript would somehow hurt him. He's the reason why GCC is so monolithic and why so much progress was hindered in the last years. He thinks that non-copyleft licensed projects can't work when there are tons of counterexamples.
I run a script blocker and ad blocker for exactly the same reason. Do a quick google search for "malvertising" and you'll discover he's got a point.
Stallman is extreme in all things. He doesn't use mobile phones or credit cards either, IIRC. I can't afford to be as extreme as him, I use a pre-paid visa card for online purchases and temporarily whitelist scripts on the web as I need them.
However, companies like Google, Microsoft, Comcast and Paypal would have you believe that an existence without the products they are pushing is completely impossible, and I think it's both an important and worthwhile thing to be the man standing at the other end of the spectrum proving that they are full of shit. That's what Stallman is doing.
It was my first time meeting Stallman at the Indie Tech Summit (where I also met the CloudFleet guys). He's a little eccentric, but he's one of the reasons I'm now on a Linux machine instead of a Mac!
But mobile is incredibly dissatisfying, and it's quickly getting a decent share of users.
Incidentally, FSF is running a vision survey to establish strategic goals:
I use BitTorrent Sync with my FreeNas box. It's absolutely amazing. I am able to completely subvert the cloud and have all my data synced across devices. The mobile app is a user-friendly delight. I was able to share 15 GBs of vacation videos with 10 of my non-techie friends by sending them a read only key to a shared folder. All of them got it right away with no technical questions or issues.
Most importantly, I have all my photos and videos synced as I take them. This means I don't lose precious photos from a trip if my phone accidentally falls in the ocean. My phone, laptop, NAS, iPad, all have my photos backed up providing good data redundancy. No cloud services involved, no risk accidental publishing something private, no risk of an account hack, and no expensive data storage plans.
The only problem is I have to trust BitTorrent's proprietary software to do the heavy lifting for me. This is why I want the SyncThing project to catch up.
It was my first time meeting Stallman at the Indie Tech Summit (where I also met the CloudFleet guys). He's a little eccentric, but he's one of the reasons I'm now on a Linux machine instead of a Mac!
I hope Stallman focusses on mobile now. Desktop, laptop & server are pretty satisfying free software platforms. But mobile is incredibly dissatisfying, and it's quickly getting a decent share of users. Incidentally, FSF is running a vision survey to establish strategic goals: https://my.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=403&reset=1
It was my first time meeting Stallman at the Indie Tech Summit (where I also met the CloudFleet guys). He's a little eccentric, but he's one of the reasons I'm now on a Linux machine instead of a Mac!
Trust is indeed a huge issue that seems to be misunderstood and misapplied in the software community. Stallman's views on trust may seem radical, but he's pretty much right. Over and over I see the things he warns about come true and I trust companies and other entities less and less. It's kind of disheartening to see the huge potential of cloud infrastructure, amongst other technologies, going to waste.