My Talk at Microsoft
stallman.org
My Talk at Microsoft
1–10 of 248 posts
Re: My Talk at Microsoft
#2 > And one other suggestion, which I made to a vice president but perhaps not in my talk.
>
> Release the source code of Windows under the GNU GPL.
>
> I know that is a stretch, but from what I heard there. it isn't totally impossible.
I do not remember who or where exactly it was, but i remember someone influential from Microsoft that was asked about open sourcing Windows (not necessarily under GPL) and they also said that it isn't totally impossible.
Re: My Talk at Microsoft
#3> Direct GitHub to promote correct and clear use of licenses and the best use of copyleft (GPL version 3-or-later).
Ehhhh... I very much like that my source code repository host isn't consistently nudging me to a specific license, thanks :).
Re: My Talk at Microsoft
#4> There are those who think that Microsoft invited me to speak in the hope of seducing me away from the free software cause.
> Others assert that inviting me was opposition research and nothing more.
Honestly, why would Microsoft in 2019 even need to either convince RMS to give up free software or to research him at all?
Re: My Talk at Microsoft
#5>Publicly take back Microsoft's attacks on copyleft made in the 2000s. Ballmer called the GPL a "cancer". Allchin called it "un-American".
(from the "Suggestions I gave to Microsoft" section)
This is something I agree with. I don't think that Microsoft are likely to apologise for EEE [1] as that is likely just considered 'business' and part of the zeitgeist; neither do I think that Microsoft necessarily needs to endorse or support GPL as they are definitely unlikely to be using it for any products for the foreseeable.
They should, however, be a bit more repentant about starting a McCarthy-esque red scare against all things open source. I don't think those things were appropriate at the time and they really should at the very least be acknowledged as part of the "Microsoft heart Linux" initiative.
Part of me, though, thinks that Microsoft's recent adventures in Linux have been more 'Black Friday' than 'Good Friday'.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace%2C_extend%2C_and_extin...
Re: My Talk at Microsoft
#6> Help make the web usable with Javascript deactivated.
I don't quite understand why that is a goal in itself. If it's due to accessibility why not ask to "Help make the web more usable for people with disabilities"? Maybe I'm missing something here.
Re: My Talk at Microsoft
#7> Help make the web usable with Javascript deactivated. I don't quite understand why that is a goal in itself. If it's due to accessibility why not ask to "Help make the web more usable for people with disabilities"? Maybe I'm missing something here.
Stallman doesn't want to run proprietary software on his computer, and that includes proprietary Javascript.
Re: My Talk at Microsoft
#8> Help make the web usable with Javascript deactivated. I don't quite understand why that is a goal in itself. If it's due to accessibility why not ask to "Help make the web more usable for people with disabilities"? Maybe I'm missing something here.
A lot of non-free software is written in Javascript and runs on webpages. If you want to avoid using non-free software you have to disable Javascript on many websites.
Ideally the Javascript would be freed, but making it optional might be a more feasible goal.
Re: My Talk at Microsoft
#9> Help make the web usable with Javascript deactivated. I don't quite understand why that is a goal in itself. If it's due to accessibility why not ask to "Help make the web more usable for people with disabilities"? Maybe I'm missing something here.
It's to avoid the use of non-free javascript, which is mostly taken for granted.
Re: My Talk at Microsoft
#10> And one other suggestion, which I made to a vice president but perhaps not in my talk. > > Release the source code of Windows under the GNU GPL. > > I know that is a stretch, but from what I heard there. it isn't totally impossible. I do not remember who or where exactly it was, but i remember someone influential from Microsoft that was asked about open sourcing Windows (not necessarily under GPL) and they also sai…
I don't know why anyone would think it is impossible, but it would take significant money and time to do it and it is unclear what benefit there would be except some small good will gained from developers that care about the FSF mission.