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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]

#361
post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can confirm: I've been using Linux on the desktop since I was 15, nearly 20 years ago now. Be not afraid, fellow nerds!

Since 1997 here -- still my OS of choice, for desktops, laptops, and servers. I enjoy FreeBSD and NetBSD too, but Debian feels like "home". No surprises, no gotchas, no telemetry, no nonsense. Every time I have to use my Windows 10 corporate laptop, I become even more bewildered that people actually tolerate such a farce as their daily computing environment.

You and I are quite alike it seems, Linux always on some device, server, laptop since 1997 - Debian is home.

I do tolerate Windows to some extent however, it doesn't bother me too much. But that might be the gaming nerd inside talking.

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

#362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 t…

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Your post is misinformation at best or disinformation at the worst.

https://stallmansupport.org/debunking-false-accusations-agai...

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

#365
post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The parts of Europe that lived under communism (so from East Germany eastward) have a much more negative view of communism than Americans for whom it was a theoretical, faraway geopolitical issue, which they never experienced. Still, around 20 years ago when I was a teen, some edgy kids did wear Che and Marx t-shirts and it was considered cool in some circles. I'd say it is an imitation of the West. As paradoxical as…

I do not think it's true. It's wishful thinking at best, but sadly (or not, depending on your views), Eastern Europe is going through an identity crisis right now, and at least in Romania/Ukraine/Russia pré invasion (don't know about other countries), you could see a lot of misery and a lot of people yearning for the 'good old days', even people who weren't alive back then. I'd say it's half 50+, half young people, m…

I'm Hungarian BTW. And you seem to misunderstand me. I'm not saying that teens yearn for Kádár or much less Rákosi. I'm saying that the Che t shirt and the rest of the "Western teen rebel starter pack" are parts of a cool identity, it's not associated in their minds with historical Hungarian communism that actually happened.

It is a continuation of a historic West-imitation that's as old as taking on Roman Catholicism or adopting the Renaissance in Matthias Corvinus' court.

Hungarians in the 80s didn't long for some different philosophical organization of society. They wanted the cool Western things, good home appliances, higher salaries, vacations abroad, jeans, shoes, porn magazines, Western pop rock punk music, Coca Cola, McDonald's etc.

So shortly after the change of system in 1989 edgier kids also started to adopt the teen rebel fashion including Che. Just like there were a few goths and emo kids in every class later on. And today it's kpop and whatever is trending on tiktok.

Western Kids larp communism so eastern kids larp the larp. Its not unlike importing Buddhism and mindfulness from California. People adopt it because it is cool in the West and adopt the western interpretation of it.

Imagine if a hip Indian tech worker in Bangalore adopts Californian Buddhism. It would not be because of the local history of Buddhism, but the coolness factor put on it by Silicon Valley. It's like when pizza was backimported to all of Italy, after it got popular in America, even though it was a much more local thing in a small part of Italy before.

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

#366

I hope he’s able to manage it well (since the prognosis is good) and is around for a lot longer. We need absolutists like him who go to extremes and are known widely. For a few moments, leave aside his personality and what people have said about his behavior or hygiene. If he hadn’t been there, our world would’ve been a lot different and a lot poorer. A visionary is what he was and is. While the Free part of FOSS is…

Does he have a reputation for poor hygiene?

More anectodal evidence: I've eaten pizza with him twice. Didn't notice anything.

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

#367

̛If you check the surroundings, you will see the mess we are in. Virtually (?) there are 0 options for a viable IoT platform, mobile/desktop OS that doesn't annoy us. It could be privacy, locking, you name it, ... Only recently, I happen to realise, we could have listened to this man little more. Too late then, we are sold already. Recover well Mr Stallman! I wish you the best!

I just want an IoT plug so I can switch things off and on. It should expose a tcp port and allow me to send packets to it via wifi with some level of authentication. I don't want any cloud shit with it. Just a simple (okay, it's not actually that simple) device that connects to wifi and lets me throw packets at it to control it. Without GNU, that's just a fever dream. Many cancers are survivable these days. I hope he…

> I just want an IoT plug so I can switch things off and on. It should expose a tcp port and allow me to send packets to it via wifi with some level of authentication. I don't want any cloud shit with it. Just a simple (okay, it's not actually that simple) device that connects to wifi and lets me throw packets at it to control it.

Shelly devices offer a firmware that can be controlled trough a REST API locally. Unfortunately it's still proprietary and not open, but it doesn't require a cloud connection.

Otherwise you can buy a device and replace the firmware, there are number of open alternatives, such as ESP Home, Tasmota, etc.

Or... you can build it yourself. Building a smart plug is an easy task, if you have some practice on electrics. You will likely build a better product in terms of safety and capabilities that one you can buy.

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

#368
post #337
post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd bet there will be a blockbuster movie about this guy within 10 years of him dying and it'll be in the pop culture, and maybe even stoke a temporary privacy / freedom focus for a while in common consciousness. Unfortunately the world doesn't know how to really appreciate people as much when they're alive for some personality types.

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Thing is, you and people like you won't come in any of the acts. Of anything. And that's arguably just.

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

#369
post #357

Stallman's character is one of the reasons I have repeatedly considered establishing some kind of "Church of Computing", i.e. an organized "religion" solely to secure religious protections and rights as they apply to the modern world. For example, the right not to have to use some random company's app to interact with a government agency or a public school (and agree to said company's EULA, etc). It only takes a few…

You refuse to learn something because you are afraid that that thing might change and require you to learn new things? Maybe this isn’t the best industry for you.

This is not at all what he said, he refuses to use (learn) it because of ideological reasons. That is not the same. I can relate to some extent.

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

#370
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…

> I also know that if he reads this, it will be from an Emacs mail client on his dusty ThinkPad in text mode This is the setup that RMS described using well over a decade ago. Is there any reason to believe he is still using it?

Is there a reason to think a trusty Thinkpad from the times before would ever break down? The man clearly had chosen a worflow for life, which... Good for him. The biggest currency of the 21st century thinkers seems to be attention...
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