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Richard Stallman’s rider

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Re: Richard Stallman’s rider

#81

Post by dualboot »

astine wrote: post #72
heyrhett wrote: post #7

All of his demands are either directly related to his health or the moral causes that he champions. He is specific and verbose. Some of these things might seem strange to people who are younger than 50 years old, and aren't flown around the world to give hundreds of talks. I think that this demonstrates the value of a clear and verbose contract.

"All of his demands are either directly related to his health or the moral causes that he champions." Did you read the same list I did? He requests to stay in somebody's home but specifies a list of foods he doesn't like and demands he be consulted on any meals he's served. Some of his demands relate to his cause, and a few to his health, but overall I'd say he comes across as overly particular and demanding. I guess…

Perhaps it is my experience in reading many of these riders in the past but I actually found this rider to be very reasonable and well thought out.

I would imagine it's an evolution of compiling best-case scenarios and trying to limit the worst.

You have to take into account that Dr. Stallman travels a lot and has to be a guest considerably more than most other people. Usually the people reading this rider want to make him feel at home and cater to his whims.

I would like to say that I'm surprised but honestly I'm not. Sure RMS has some odd behaviors but pretty much everyone who has dedicated a tremendous amount of energy to a cause as he has come with a cavalcade of interesting behaviors. Everything I've read about RMS as a person has revealed that he is generally a well thought out and decent person.. with some polarizing fundamental beliefs.

Re: Richard Stallman’s rider

#83

Post by stickfigure »

tibbon wrote: post #11
heyrhett wrote: post #7

All of his demands are either directly related to his health or the moral causes that he champions. He is specific and verbose. Some of these things might seem strange to people who are younger than 50 years old, and aren't flown around the world to give hundreds of talks. I think that this demonstrates the value of a clear and verbose contract.

Precisely. Nothing is left to ambiguity, and then hopefully the fewest possible things will go wrong. About the only thing that I laughed at (in joy) was the thing about parrots...

Nothing is left to ambiguity?

A supply of tea with milk and sugar would be nice. If it is tea I really like, I like it without milk and sugar. With milk and sugar, any kind of tea is fine. I always bring tea bags with me, so if we use my tea bags, I will certainly like that tea without milk or sugar.

Really, I think he's just screwing with us. Douglas Adams would be proud.

Re: Richard Stallman’s rider

#84

Post by mhb »

outworlder wrote: post #67
metafour wrote: post #56

I apologize up front to those of you who take the following comments as me being purposefully obtuse. That's not my intent. I am not familiar with the intricate details of his message but on the surface it seems to me to be at odds, at some level, with the idea of it being ok to have a parrot as a pet. Software needs to be free or humans have a right to have free access to software but it's okay to keep a bird in a c…

I had a parrot once. I have the following to say: Parrots should never be physically confined, either by cages or (god forbid!) chains. If they like you, they will hang around you on their own accord. After a while they seem to regard some humans as family. Mine would follow my mom around like a dog. As far as I know, they do not surf wind drafts, but they do require exercise. Therefore, you should have an open space…

How do they feel about breakfast?

Re: Richard Stallman’s rider

#85

Post by drivingmenuts »

Portmanager wrote: post #19

RMS is quite unkempt, his feet stink like a hobo. In general he has a retarded way of dealing with people, not a nice person to be in touch with. Just my 2 cents. PS: I did not mention his philosophy, neithe if his ideas are wrong. I just said he's got a bad personal hygiene and that he is has a retarded way of dealing with people, here are some quotes: http://edward.oconnor.cx/2005/04/rms It is plain wrong to offer…

"I didn’t receive the DEC message, but I can’t imagine I would have been bothered if I have. I get tons of uninteresting mail, and system announcements about babies born, etc. At least a demo might have been interesting."

I actually laughed at that.

Re: Richard Stallman’s rider

#86

Post by mekoka »

Androsynth wrote: post #54

Given the kind of talks he does, I can see where he's coming from with this; it sounds like the kind of list that was built up over time. In general, I would imagine he doesn't want to repeat the kind of incident that happened at linuxworld 99, where the he was given the torvalds award[1]. 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDxMJQLXmBE

...so we can call it "GNU slash Linux"

I never knew he pronounced the slash in GNU/Linux. Not very brandable IMO.

Re: Richard Stallman’s rider

#88

Post by icebraining »

BrandonM wrote: post #74
0x12 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't hire a missionary with a vision to pat yourself or your audience on the back. That's like expecting Sylvester Stallone to do higher mathematics or Mother Theresa to do an arms deal for you. Some people are what they are and their environment/audience will have to accept them as they are. The problem lies squarely with the person that hired him, the abstract of the speeches listed should have adequately expl…

> What I found interesting on reading the 'rider' is that he still refers to the GNU operating system as though it is in daily use. I've yet to see a HURD based system do anything useful in production but half the world wide web seems to run on Linux these days. Of course linux is 'merely a kernel'. Considering that glib, libc, gcc, emacs, the vast majority of the Unix utilities, bash, grub, autoconf, make, readline,…

The Linux kernel isn't much use without the software on top of it, and it's nothing at all without the compiler that turns it into machine code.

Or without the its own license, the GNU GPL.

Re: Richard Stallman’s rider

#89

Post by LeafStorm »

Some of the things in the rider are definitely odd, but the only one that I would really consider unreasonable is the "GNU/Linux" thing. Yes, I know that the GNU project has done a lot of work for Linux, but on the other hand there are a lot of Linux distros that do not use an all-GNU userland anymore.

Re: Richard Stallman’s rider

#90

Post by derleth »

stickfigure wrote: post #83
tibbon wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Precisely. Nothing is left to ambiguity, and then hopefully the fewest possible things will go wrong. About the only thing that I laughed at (in joy) was the thing about parrots...

Nothing is left to ambiguity? A supply of tea with milk and sugar would be nice. If it is tea I really like, I like it without milk and sugar. With milk and sugar, any kind of tea is fine. I always bring tea bags with me, so if we use my tea bags, I will certainly like that tea without milk or sugar. Really, I think he's just screwing with us. Douglas Adams would be proud.

How is that even somewhat ambiguous? Personal and, perhaps, skirting the outer edge of what a remarkably parochial person might regard as quirky, but he laid out a drink preference specific enough someone has a shopping list and doesn't have to guess. Which is what a rider is for.

You don't even need to buy him tea; he explicitly says he always brings his own with him.

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