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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]

#451
post #430
post #415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there are two different things: - the MIT mailing list discussion of a few years ago where he got a lot of flakes for what I indeed believe was a lot of misunderstanding. He seemed reasonable to me, but you really need subtle and careful reading to notice this. It was easy to misread and understand the contrary of was he thinks. I think he should have refrained from participating in this discussion though. Wh…

When I hear stuff like "you need really subtle and careful reading"... it's just an excuse to discount the actual content of the message and invent the meaning you wanted all along. Like, how could I be so stupid to not pick up on this totally opposite point from what RMS was saying?

This point was discussed at length over the years. You have your opinion on it. Likely different from mine. At this point I don't think any of us can change their mind, we both have been forming our respective opinion for a long time now.

Let me precise my phrasing: you might have read this thing with "really subtle and careful reading" and reached a different opinion from mine. I believe it. It's fine. But I do maintain that, in any case, you need really subtle and careful reading to avoid jumping to widely wrong conclusions. I think it was easy to understand horrible things from his wording by skipping a word or two or thinking too fast. The thing with Stallman in particular is that he is particularly very careful with his wording, and I think this whole MIT discussion was no counterexample to this. It's up to us to understand the right thing and it is clear that strongly different interpretations emerged this time, for some reason. And what's worse is that his clarifications might have strengthened both interpretations.

Anyway, that's why I said "Regardless on one's opinion" on the matter. It's easy to find inappropriate comments on RMS that defame him.

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

#452
post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't like Gnome so much, but enshittification is quite a strong word to qualify it. I'd prefer we reserved this word for when stuff gets worse because of money / investors, with incentives at odds with the user needs. I don't believe Gnome suffers from decisions that are bad because of financial incentives.

Well, I am open to changing my mind. What do you think, what's the reason then? From an outsider perspective, 10 years ago I've seen all those beautiful, perfectly usable UIs, and they have almost all disappeared by today. What happened? Why do you think GNOME does that?

Your opinion of what a good UI looks like is 10+ years old, GNOME is constantly trying to look like a modern relevant UI. I also hate it, that's why I don't use GNOME and instead use a desktop environment committed to looking like what was popular 20 years ago. I seem to be in the minority, I encounter many people that love GNOME

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

#453
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.

All copyleft software is free software, but not all free software is copyleft, since some free software may be distributed under permissive licenses that do not require derivative works to maintain the same freedoms or licensing terms.

The MIT License is a permissive free software license that isn't copyleft, as it allows proprietary modifications.

https://www.gnu.org/graphics/copyleft-sticker.en.html

>This is a scan of the “Copyleft (L)” sticker on the back of the envelope mailed from Don Hopkins to Richard Stallman on 1984. The envelope contained a 68000 manual that Don borrowed from Richard, that he was returning. The sticker inspired Richard to use the word “Copyleft” for licensing free software.

>attention:

>READ NOTE BEFORE OPENING!

>Copyleft (L)

>The material contained in this envelope is Copyleft (L) 1984 by an amoeba named “Tom”. Any violation of this stringent pact with person or persons who are to remain un-named will void the warrantee of every small appliance in your kitchen, and furthermore, you will grow a pimple underneath your fingernail. Breaking the seal shows that you agree to abide by Judith Martin's guidelines concerning the choosing of fresh flowers to be put on the dining room table. Failure to break the seal on a weekday is […]

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

#454
post #349

̛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!

Yet many software developers have personally benefited a lot from FOSS and are aware of the principles behind it. But when someone is willing to pay us a lot of money, many of us will willingly become deaf to the free software ideals and submit to the corporations in exchange for stable employment.

> many of us will willingly become deaf to the free software ideals

Genuine question: what proportion of developers actually understand the free software ideals? Have you ever tried to go to your colleagues and ask what [choose your open source license] implies?

My experience is that most people think that GPL means that you need to publicly distribute all the code and that BSD means that you can just use it without any attribution.

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

#456
post #415
post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I think there are two different things: - the MIT mailing list discussion of a few years ago where he got a lot of flakes for what I indeed believe was a lot of misunderstanding. He seemed reasonable to me, but you really need subtle and careful reading to notice this. It was easy to misread and understand the contrary of was he thinks. I think he should have refrained from participating in this discussion though. Wh…

> I don't think he is misogynistic (many examples on stallman.org supports the opposite)

Intent, outcome and self-image can drift apart quite substantially. Few misogynists would consider themselves as such. Usually because misogynist behavior is still considered normal by quite a few people and pushback against the status quo comes at a social cost.

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

#457

Let's pray for RMS: Father God in Heaven, Please heal Richard Stallman of the cancer afflicting his body, and give him a strong will to endure all of this to the end. Let him keep his health through this period of his life here on Earth, LORD. And let both him and his legacy continue shine the light of freedom and transparency and human decency in this world, which is getting so dark. And keep him healthy through his…

[flagged]

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

#458

̛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!

Well Linux is usable as a desktop operating system. For IoT there are multiple open source project, Home Assistant, ESP Home, just to name a few. The real problem are mobile operating system. Android phones are nowadays even more and more locked down, and using ROMs without Google Services is nearly impossible.

> and using ROMs without Google Services is nearly impossible.

Ever hear of GrapheneOS, CalyxOS, /e/ OS, LineageOS, divestOS? I have been using one of those for 2 years now, just like a "normal" Android. I bought my phone with it pre-installed, I didn't have to do anything.

Of course I can't use the apps that require the Google Services, but in my experience that's mostly just stuff like Google Maps (there are great alternatives) and YouTube (there are apps like NewPipe that work really well).

So yeah, I wouldn't say "nearly impossible".

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

#460

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does he have a reputation for poor hygiene?

I think that might be referring to an incident where he picked at his foot then ate the pickings.

https://youtu.be/I25UeVXrEHQ
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