Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Stallman Responds To GNOME Questionaire

Posted by timothy on from the hello-champion-city dept.

proclus writes: "Stallman's response to the GNOME board election process is a lesson in the application of free software principles. For Stallman, GNOME is a GNU project, and the main goal is to promote free software. His consistancy and ethics are admirable, but one wonders if GNOME has grown beyond its roots in the free software community. Is Stallman's view of GNOME too narrow? The GNU-Darwin Distribution and The Fink projects are a case in point. It is simply amazing how many people want to use GNOME together with Mac OSX, and yet in Stallman's view, this would be an example of GNOME falling short of its goals. If free software is used together with proprietary, then the movement has failed to displace proprietary software, and free the users. Is it possible to reach such users with free software ideals, and is it necessary to divorce free software from proprietary in order to accomplish that goal?"

4 of 542 comments (clear)

  1. What users want is what is best by dustpuppy · · Score: 3, Flamebait

    It seems to me that Stallman contradicts himself:

    If some day GNOME, GCC, GNU Emacs, and all of GNU are obsolete and forgotten, but computer users generally are free to share and change the software they use, these programs will have done their job well.

    This is all well and good.

    If, on the other hand, GNOME and the rest of the GNU system are widely used, but mainly in combination with proprietary software, they will have succeeded only part-way, and a big task will remain ahead of us.

    What happened to choosing the best software that does the task that I require it to do? If the goal is for users to be 'free to share and change the software they use', then that should also include the freedom to mix and match software (be it proprietry or open source) to meet their requirements.

    What Stallman is trying to do is ram his ideology (good aspects notwithstanding) down everyones throat in much the same way that Microsoft tries to ram their ideology down our throats.

    Ultimately, what is best for the users is what the users want. And generally if you provide what the users want, you won't need to force them to do what you want them to do. So Stallman, the fact that you feel you need to physically intervene to stop 'Gnome' going off in the wrong direction, is actually the first sign that you are heading down the wrong path.

    1. Re:What users want is what is best by Syberghost · · Score: 1, Flamebait

      What happened to choosing the best software that does the task that I require it to do?

      Stallman has always been opposed to that. That's not news.

      If you stop attempting to reconcile Stallman's views with Capitalist society, you'll be a lot closer to understanding him.
      Ultimately, what is best for the users is what the users want.

      Amen. And for some users, that's going to be Free Software. For some, it's going to be Open Source. For some, it's going to be Proprietary Software.

      In a world where Stallman isn't in charge, we get to choose between these three and many others.

  2. Its an analogy by DABANSHEE · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Stop taking things so personally.

    Really in the grand scheme of things, 6000 Americans not meeting their expected life expectancies is no big deal.

    More than 6000 Iraqi infants die a month because of the embargo on potassium based vaccines (potassium has other uses)

    Also you know there are less than 20 Sumatran Tigers left. AFAIC a that makes each Sumatran Tiger more valuable than every American one the planet (250million over 6 billon = 1/24). . Consequently (if I was put in such a position) I would kill 6000 Americans without hesitation, if it would save the life of a Sumatran tiger.

    Sacarificing 1/24 of a cancerous species to save 1/20 of a rare species, its really common sense. BTW a cancerous species is one that's shown not to be in tune with its enviroment by multiplying out of control to the point it destroying the balanced eco-system of its host.

  3. Re:I think by Zico · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    but the truth of the matter is that RMS has sacrificed a great deal of his personal time producing Free software


    Yeah, and we all know how valuable his "personal time" is. The mind boggles thinking about how many hot dates the guy must've passed up. :)


    On a > side note, it's > reassuring to see that > horrible editing isn't > just limited to Slashdot > but apparently > is the > standard at all > OSDN sites.