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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]

#431

Post by palata »

reidrac wrote: post #410
nailer wrote: post #386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was a beautiful comment, but I want to make an important point: > While the Free part of FOSS is being substituted by “(just) open source” and “source available” The OSD is very much compatible with the FSFs list of freedoms. “Source available” is a new name for “shared source” and is fake open source proprietary trash.

You're right. I guess one difference would be the part where the free software tell us "why". But in practical terms, it is too complicated (ethics!), so all is down to copyleft or not, which I believe is what the parent comment was referring to. Perhaps that's what we should be using: copyleft vs open source, instead of free software vs open source.

> Perhaps that's what we should be using: copyleft vs open source, instead of free software vs open source.

Unless I misunderstand them, what about using the actual definitions?

- Proprietary software can be closed-source or source-available

- Open-source software can be under a permissive or copyleft license

- Free software is a philosophy around open-source software, but in practice FOSS and OSS are mostly the same thing.

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

#432

Post by xk_id »

bitmadness wrote: post #297
newscracker wrote: post #270

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?

FWIW, there is a rare medical condition some people have, where their body odour is abnormally high. I knew a girl in high school, very attractive and a wonderful person, but she sufferred from this condition, despite her best efforts to manage it. She would be regularly bullied by the girls and rejected by the boys for it.

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

#433

Post by sokoloff »

bawolff wrote: post #423
hutzlibu wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"We need absolutists like him who go to extremes and are known widely." But what is he known for, outside tech circles, if he is known at all? When you want to deliver a message, it matters a lot, how you deliver it.

Does it matter? His message isn't for non-programmers. What is plato known for among people who don't give a shit about philosophy?

Being so bad at dating that "never getting laid" is named after him?

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

#434

Post by oblio »

tokai wrote: post #401
oblio wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

[flagged]

> Like clockwork.

Doesn't make me wrong, even if you personally want to look the other way.

Also:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37702077

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

#435

Post by yura »

tored wrote: post #68
minebreaker wrote: post #24

He is the one who we need now , in the era of saas/cloud run by big tech. So sad.

It is always good to remind yourself that the worlds largest spy company, Google, uses Free software to run much of it.

Your point being? I don't see how it's relevant that Google uses free software. RMS is probably happy that they do. Of course, they should stop spying on people, but I don't see how that's related to their use of free software.

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

#436

Post by MaKey »

oblio wrote: post #392
jeltz wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PipeWire made sound finally work flawlessly for me on Linux, Proton made it possible to play a ton of games, graphics drivers being stable, especially for Vulcan and Firefox enabling hardware acceleration. Some things are worse as you note, but there have been som important improvements.

Is there a mainstream laptop on which Linux runs as well as Windows? I'd really want one that doesn't cost 3k+.

The Linux support for ThinkPads is pretty good I think. I've been using a T14 AMD Gen 1 for three years now with Ubuntu. The hardware is supported by the LVFS too. I'm upgrading to a T14 AMD Gen 4 shortly and will be running Linux (Ubuntu) again.

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

#437

Post by bawolff »

jraph wrote: post #181

Here he is, 70, under chemo, giving a speech. He keeps being a force of nature. May he recover well, or at least have long enjoyable years ahead. He has/had arguable/unacceptable behavior, but I believe we strongly owe him. He has built incredible software, defined important stuff and kicked our asses in the right direction.

> He has/had arguable/unacceptable behavior, but I believe we strongly owe him.

Arguably that describes most people ever considered heroes. Just look at the controversy of anyone who ever had a statue made of them

I think to change the world you have to be somewhat not of it - you have to rebel against social norms. The people who rebel against social norms don't just rebel against the right ones but also are wrong sometimes too.

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

#438

Post by bawolff »

PostOnce wrote: post #322

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…

This feels like one of those - programmers think they understand how laws work but don't actually.

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

#439

Post by astrod »

bawolff wrote: post #423
hutzlibu wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"We need absolutists like him who go to extremes and are known widely." But what is he known for, outside tech circles, if he is known at all? When you want to deliver a message, it matters a lot, how you deliver it.

Does it matter? His message isn't for non-programmers. What is plato known for among people who don't give a shit about philosophy?

Maybe not the best example there, known or not - Plato's influence on us today is pretty heavy.

There are even strong theories connecting early Christianity directly to Plato.

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

#440

Post by Findecanor »

deepsummer wrote: post #21
freeqaz wrote: post #4

Some type of Lymphoma that is being managed, he said in the video. Does anybody have any other info about this?

This is what's on his personal page, stallman.org: `Richard Stallman has cancer. Fortunately it is slow-growing and manageable follicular lymphona, so he will probably live many more years nonetheless. But he now has to be even more careful not to catch Covid-19.`

I am almost recovered from slow-growing lymphoma myself. (not sure if the same subgroup, but both are B-cell lymphoma) I had my last doctor's appointment about it earlier today, in fact.

The problem is that it is chronic. It can reoccur. And it can mutate into malign lymphoma. But some people go twenty or more years without it reoccurring.

BTW. I got Covid-19 while having lymphoma. I recovered from that normally. But if I had also been under chemo, it would have been a different matter.

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