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Richard Stallman reveals he has cancer in the GNU 40 Hacker Meeting talk [video]

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Re: Richard Stallman reveals he has cancer in the GNU 40 Hacker Meeting talk [video]

#211

Post by maurice2k »

achenet wrote: post #168
maurice2k wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly what I think about RMS, FSF and GNU. I'm mostly working with younger people (like 20-30 years old) and well, they don't really know what GNU or the FSF is. As a Linux user I'm using GNU software all day but for most people it's just "linux command line tools". It's fine and if they do the job, well done! But this doesn't help the FSF or the GNU project. A lot of these tools have pretty good documentati…

speaking as someone who quite enjoys the GNU website [0], I would rather they not start gunking everything up with "a CoOl LoOkInG JaVaScRiPt CaRoUsEl" like every other SaaS website out there. [0] for example: https://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/ed-msg.en.html

I guess you're the audience they're targeting with this nerdy content :-)

I can also lightly smile but give this to a 20 or 30 year old person. They won't understand it.

Re: Richard Stallman reveals he has cancer in the GNU 40 Hacker Meeting talk [video]

#212

Post by onethought »

rakoo wrote: post #100
onethought wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you need? Or have the right? To modify the software. That same Tesla is cast with a proprietary alloy that not only they won’t tell you what it is, but it’s patent anyway. Same is true of the rubber in the tyres. Open source is a great thing. But it’s not better (morally) than closed source. Open is just a feature. Like Lego vs a solid plastic toy.

> But it’s not better (morally) than closed source. That's a highly subjective opinion, and yours is not more valid than others'

Likewise to who I’m responding to, and exactly my point.

Re: Richard Stallman reveals he has cancer in the GNU 40 Hacker Meeting talk [video]

#213

Post by onethought »

loup-vaillant wrote: post #115
onethought wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you need? Or have the right? To modify the software. That same Tesla is cast with a proprietary alloy that not only they won’t tell you what it is, but it’s patent anyway. Same is true of the rubber in the tyres. Open source is a great thing. But it’s not better (morally) than closed source. Open is just a feature. Like Lego vs a solid plastic toy.

The first principle, is when I have a thing (computer, car, toaster), I have the thing. It’s mine. I control it, I can have it repaired wherever, I can resell it, and if I have the skill, maybe even tweak it. But most importantly the thing serves me , not the corporation that sold it to me. If the thing is a general purpose computer that can run arbitrary software (and I’d be tempted to include anything that can be r…

That is why I made the point about the metal in a Tesla. It’s hardware, it’s yours, you have no reasonable capability to modify it, yet that is uncontroversial. So why is the software?

Re: Richard Stallman reveals he has cancer in the GNU 40 Hacker Meeting talk [video]

#214

Post by jraph »

Biganon wrote: post #208
jll29 wrote: post #187

I wish RMS all the best for his health, a long and happy life. I also know that if he reads this, it will be from an Emacs mail client on his dusty ThinkPad in text mode (no X11 or Wayland) by sending a URL to a service he wrote that will email him the Web page back - a clean process without any using any tainted proprietary software. He only ever exchanged one sentence with me when we had dinner together with other…

The only thing he told me is "this t-shirt implies a political affiliation that isn't mine; I won't sign it." I had asked him to sign my t-shirt, that depicted him with a beret with a Gnu on it, in the style of Che Guevara

A game of trying to make him say something (implying something) he doesn't fully approves of has to be impossible to win.

He is way too careful for this.

Re: Richard Stallman reveals he has cancer in the GNU 40 Hacker Meeting talk [video]

#215

Post by mbakke »

erik_seaberg wrote: post #87
aragonite wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The only issue could only ever arises if he claimed "Free Software is more important than human lives", which I am pretty sure not a claim he, or anyone, has ever made. Valuing freedom (even in limited spheres) more than human lives is a pretty familiar American idea. For example, recall Patrick Henry's "give me liberty or give me death" and consider that he was talking about the prospect of being taxed without his…

Can modified firmware be used with human patients, or would somebody go to prison or lose his license to practice? Would hackers have to collaborate with a manufacturer before a device goes into certification?

Arguably there should be laws mandating that medical equipment MUST be open for everyone to inspect, contribute, and share.

That does not answer your question though. It goes both ways: if the doctor recognises that a firmware tweak may save your life, then she should be able to do so.

Re: Richard Stallman reveals he has cancer in the GNU 40 Hacker Meeting talk [video]

#216

Post by maurice2k »

dnh44 wrote: post #123
maurice2k wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly what I think about RMS, FSF and GNU. I'm mostly working with younger people (like 20-30 years old) and well, they don't really know what GNU or the FSF is. As a Linux user I'm using GNU software all day but for most people it's just "linux command line tools". It's fine and if they do the job, well done! But this doesn't help the FSF or the GNU project. A lot of these tools have pretty good documentati…

I understand your sentiment and I agree with you, but at the same time if we, as a community and as a society, are incapable of caring about the principles and philosophy behind free software because the websites aren't cool enough, then we (as a community or society) will ultimately deserve whatever dystopian fate awaits us.

Fully agree, but I doubt this is not the reality we live in... ;-)

Re: Richard Stallman reveals he has cancer in the GNU 40 Hacker Meeting talk [video]

#217

Post by DaiPlusPlus »

Biganon wrote: post #208
jll29 wrote: post #187

I wish RMS all the best for his health, a long and happy life. I also know that if he reads this, it will be from an Emacs mail client on his dusty ThinkPad in text mode (no X11 or Wayland) by sending a URL to a service he wrote that will email him the Web page back - a clean process without any using any tainted proprietary software. He only ever exchanged one sentence with me when we had dinner together with other…

The only thing he told me is "this t-shirt implies a political affiliation that isn't mine; I won't sign it." I had asked him to sign my t-shirt, that depicted him with a beret with a Gnu on it, in the style of Che Guevara

I think that's a valid and reasonable position of him to take, though. If I ever became a celebrity or public figure I'd be sure to take a course on public-relations and media-training - it's easy to (intentionally or otherwise) turn something innocuous into something worse - Che Guevara is currently a popular figure and a positive inspiration for many, but for many other people he represents a depostic regime that routinely violates human rights - world opinion could very quickly turn against the Che T-shirt meme and I wouldn't want any stories of how I signed something I'd later regret.

(Yes, I know about RMS' history too (yes, that history) and I'm not defending that at all - but so far, of what I've seen, he seems to be wanting to avoid being misinterpreted by others, which is something I deeply empathise with, such is life-on-the-spectrum)

Re: Richard Stallman reveals he has cancer in the GNU 40 Hacker Meeting talk [video]

#218

Post by drt5b7j »

Biganon wrote: post #208
jll29 wrote: post #187

I wish RMS all the best for his health, a long and happy life. I also know that if he reads this, it will be from an Emacs mail client on his dusty ThinkPad in text mode (no X11 or Wayland) by sending a URL to a service he wrote that will email him the Web page back - a clean process without any using any tainted proprietary software. He only ever exchanged one sentence with me when we had dinner together with other…

The only thing he told me is "this t-shirt implies a political affiliation that isn't mine; I won't sign it." I had asked him to sign my t-shirt, that depicted him with a beret with a Gnu on it, in the style of Che Guevara

I mean I would've been a lot more rude. It's hard to not take that as an intentional provocation.

Re: Richard Stallman reveals he has cancer in the GNU 40 Hacker Meeting talk [video]

#219

Post by dudeinjapan »

DaiPlusPlus wrote: post #217
Biganon wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only thing he told me is "this t-shirt implies a political affiliation that isn't mine; I won't sign it." I had asked him to sign my t-shirt, that depicted him with a beret with a Gnu on it, in the style of Che Guevara

I think that's a valid and reasonable position of him to take, though. If I ever became a celebrity or public figure I'd be sure to take a course on public-relations and media-training - it's easy to (intentionally or otherwise) turn something innocuous into something worse - Che Guevara is currently a popular figure and a positive inspiration for many, but for many other people he represents a depostic regime that r…

Try wearing that shirt around Miami…

Re: Richard Stallman reveals he has cancer in the GNU 40 Hacker Meeting talk [video]

#220

Post by tmpX7dMeXU »

testermelon wrote: post #67

We are in dire need of succession. Can memories of his reasoning alone withstand the erosion of time in the mindshare of public discussion? I know FSF will codify stuffs and preserve things that are ideologically important. But without someone as strong-headed as him we will have a hard time defending freedom of software.

RMS and the FSF have honestly and I guess unfortunately made their bed here. I think a lack of succession and to be frank the ageing population of people that care for the FSF are in large part a result of these folks conflating “fostering the development / use of free software” with “do things the way we did them 40 years ago, because that’s what we like”. I am not sure how many young people successfully penetrate these sorts of greybeard cultures, even if they want to.
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