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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]

#511

Post by Pannoniae »

rpeden wrote: post #494
Pannoniae wrote: post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is enshittification because they are making the software worse in opposition to the users. They don't care that the users hate the changes, they still do it anyway, deliberately.

Have you considered that many users do like the changes, and you just aren't one of them? I first used desktop Linux in 1996 and liked it well enough. I remember using GNOME 2 and Xfce around 2010ish and liking both of them well enough, too. And they're still around if I want to use them. But honestly? I don't use them because I like modern GNOME better. I use it every day, everything just works, and I like it more t…

Yes, I have, but fundamentally, using old stuff is usually quite hard. If I could revert to it, it would be great, but those are usually not too compatible with today's technology.

I use those despite their horrible UI, not because of their horrible UI.

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

#512

Post by sdfghswe »

jraph wrote: post #287
_njyk wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's true that in Western Europe it's fine to show the communist symbols. To Westerner, they never saw communism in action, only propaganda. Which means that kids can proudly wear their capitalistic-made Che Guevara t-shirt at school. However, in Eastern Europe it's an absolute no, wearing such shirts is worse than the nazi symbols because it shows support to extreme atrocities in front of people who were victim of t…

Communism refers to at least two separate things, though (in Western Europe). - a theoretical economic model that is opposed to capitalism - the atrocious regimes of the 20th century calling themselves communism you are referring to that have vanishingly few things to do with the first. Vanishingly few people in Western Europe support these atrocious regimes. And therefore, communism the way you are using it. What's…

Communism refers to at least two separate things: the theory and the reality. That's basically what you just said, right?

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

#513

Post by pcl »

sokoloff wrote: post #443
op00to wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Years and years ago he talked at my university lug. I picked him up in my car from the train. The BO smell remained in my car for WEEKS. Dude had a serious aroma.

On the other side, back in college to earn extra money, I was his typist for around 10 hours (3 or so hours at a stint), meaning he sat diagonally behind me, reading the screen I was typing on. The only thing I noticed was his hair was a little wild. That was a few decades ago, so perhaps things have changed, but he was well within normal odor back in the early 90s.

What were you typing for him?

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

#514

Post by kaashif »

Gigachad wrote: post #501
ToValueFunfetti wrote: post #491

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you might not be considering personal bugfixes (X interaction is great for the common denominator, annoying to me), long-term support (I want to use my device securely in 2045), or custom features (I want to be able to do X, but only 0.001% of people care so Apple doesn't). I use Android, so I can't be more specific. I have heard the unverified complaint that Apple sometimes slows down old devices as new ones…

I don't really understand this. You plan to single handedly replace the entire OS and security teams to maintain the OS on your phone for a decade? How will you update the kernel when the proprietary driver blobs stop being maintained?

I imagine their ideal open source phone OS wouldn't include any proprietary driver blobs, but what do I know...

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

#515

Post by cauch »

calderknight wrote: post #495
Ensorceled wrote: post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Norman Finkelstein (blacklisted from Academia for his work relating to the Israel/Palestine conflict) He wasn't "cancelled" for being "woke", that's straight up political fallout for going up against Israeli interests. > Richard Stallman (made to resign from his positions at MIT and FSF due to comments relating to Marvin Minsky and Jeffrey Epstein) He's back at FSF. Clearly not "cancelled" as evidenced by this enti…

Stallman was cancelled. If the repercussions he faced were just, he was nonetheless cancelled. If the repercussions have turned out to be only temporary, he was nonetheless cancelled. In general, you seem to think that because these people deserved the punishment they faced, that they were not really cancelled. This is a wrongheaded way to think about the matter. A person is cancelled when he faces certain punishment…

Your definition of "cancelled" seems to be pretty different than the current usage, in particular people who are against "cancel-culture" as a threat to legitimate freedom and/or as a dangerous unfair ideology. (in both cases, it requires the cancellation to be unfair. If it is not unfair, then it cannot be considered as a danger)

I don't really see the point of the term "cancelled" if it is what you describe: what you describe is just the normal usual consequences of living in society, and it existed since millenia without the need of using a specific term like "cancel".

It is also not really good because it muddies the water. We have people who are saying that the cancel-culture is a big danger. What they have in mind as "cancellation" is mainly a fantasy, and it is true that what they have in mind practically never happens in real life. But then, if you come and say "yeah, there is the list of people cancelled", these people will just start to believe these people went under the way more extreme definition of "cancellation" they have in mind.

> P.S. I never said Finkelstein as cancelled for being woke (you likely misread the word "work"), in fact he is very much against woke culture - see his latest book, "I'll Burn That Bridge When I Get To It!"

Oh. When I saw that, I was thinking "Good, this list contains some people that would have been cancelled for not conforming to right-wing ideal. Then I guess it is already more believable". But if it is not the case, I find it problematic. There is absolutely no intrinsic reason that only people would be cancelled for "not conforming with a left-wing ideal". If "cancellation" is a real thing, it should happen to right-wing or left-wing.

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

#516

Post by christophilus »

Pannoniae wrote: post #329
lima wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Linux desktop is more viable than ever. Zigbee/Matter/... are widely adopted open standards without vendor lock in. Things like Home Assistant are getting serious attention and funding. Could be much worse.

The Linux desktop is better than ever (in fact, I am switching to it the first time in a few days! I just need to setup some things first) Sadly, the enshittification has also taken over parts of the Linux desktop as well though. For example, the mobile-first, flat-everything user-hostile design. (like gnome) Dark themes were not common while skeuomorphism was mainstream, they are only in demand right now because vie…

I love Gnome, so not everyone agrees on the "enshittification" claim. It's the most visually consistent DE for Linux, in my experience, and has an aesthetic that I appreciate. It mostly just stays out of my way, but has affordances for the things I need. Fortunately, there's plenty of choice in the Linux world, and we can hopefully coexist without too much hostility.

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

#517

Post by borbulon »

MisterBastahrd wrote: post #484
borbulon wrote: post #445

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, you're right, but the fact that Stallman is 70, and "under chemo," and still giving talks would suggest that whatever chemo he's under is relatively easy on his body.

Most chemo nowadays will make you feel sick for a day or two, but they also usually give you something to manage the symptoms. If it had been a few days since his last dosage, he was probably feeling decent all other things considered. Radiation therapy, on the other hand, is still being burned alive from the inside out, and even opioids are insufficient most of the time. My dad tried to ration my mom's painkillers d…

even radiation is different for different people - I have had a couple of treatments for brain metastases and due to my proximity to Boston I am lucky to get the most up-to-date treatments available. There's something called Proton Beam Stereotactic Radiosurgery which is a single session, they are somehow able to curve the beam so it enters in three different places and the place where the beam(s) meet is the place that gets the treatment. It's a single session and I don't have any side effects at all.

But yes, when I spoke to radiation oncologist when I was diagnosed 2.5 years ago (and before they had a full picture of what my cancer looked like), he told me to expect to be hospitalized multiple times because the lymph nodes they'd treat were so close to my esophagus and the treatments would burn my espohagus. "Thankfully" the cancer was spread too far and the field was too large for radiation, so the only radiation treatments I've had have been the ones described above.

More info on the different kinds of Stereotactic Radiosurgery: https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/stereotactic-rad...

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

#518

Post by akerr »

mikepurvis wrote: post #500
Gigachad wrote: post #475

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s commonly said that his inspiration was from wanting to improve a printer driver but couldn’t because it was proprietary. I feel like back in the day there would have been so many easy wins for modifications. Like how people used to root Android to add screenshot capability. These days modern software is so extremely sophisticated and refined that I can’t think of anything I could improve for say iOS. Still love…

There are several OS level things I wish I could change/override on iPhone: ability to share screen during a video call, ability to control how certain Bluetooth devices pair automatically, ability to throttle apps that I know are abusing the CPU and costing me battery.

You can share screen, Shortcuts supports Bluetooth automation triggers, turn off Background Apps or let the CPU race to sleep.

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

#520

Post by calderknight »

MadSudaca wrote: post #403
calderknight wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any number of things may be true. But one cannot sensibly infer those things from this sample of people that is very far from being a random sample, but is actually a heavily selected sample. If you're really interested in the state of things "back home", don't seek out a group of people who are very likely to be slanted toward having a particular view (whether that view be positive or negative), and when they expres…

I'll grant you that it's not a random sample and that there will be some skewness in opinions. But ignoring the wider context of the journey that these people must have made, and considering the nature of totalitarian governments, it seems to me that you're taking an obtuse position.

It seems that you have come to agree with me, but haven't realised it yet! You're saying that we must look at more than just the skewed sample, and that's exactly my point.
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