Interview With Richard Stallman

An anonymous reader writes "KernelTrap has a fascinating and lengthy interview with Richard Stallman who founded the GNU Project in 1984, and the Free Software Foundation in 1985. He also originally authored a number of well known and highly used development tools, including the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC), the GNU symbolic debugger (GDB) and GNU Emacs. The interview covers a wide range of topics, from rms's early years, to his current role in the Free Software Foundation. He discusses the current state of GNU/Hurd, the problems with non-free software, and much more."

Comments

Re:Refuting RMS?

[The Bungi]

Your other post is... completely ridiculous. Your claim that anyone who writes "non-free" software is somehow a misguided minion of evil is about as bad as it gets in this little oasis of stupidity-laced techno-activism.

You might consider your "freedom" to look at my source code a fundamental one. That's fine. Nudists consider their freedom to walk around naked a fundamental one as well. I'm sure other fringe groups have other fundamental freedoms they'd like to hoist on me to Show Me The Truth.

However, your freedom to call me an evil construct lacking a soul begins and ends with my right to write software and sell it for the highest price the market will bear. That is my freedom.

The very idea that you can stand there and equate your concept of freedom as applied to computer software to things like freedom of speech, freedom of association or the freedom to make a religious choice (ideas that people have fought and died for over the centuries) is insulting at best and retarded at worst. I recognize your right to write software and give it away the same way I recognize your right to pass gas or bake cookies. But please don't insult my intelligence by implying I'm going to burn in hell (and yes, that's how you sound) because I happen to sell software for $19.99 a pop.

You and everyone else (Stallman included) in the "join us or die" crowd sound so damn petulant and ridiculous preaching the evils of Microsoft (as if they were the only company in the planet that produces commercial software), quoting Ghandi and asking everyone "how evil do you feel today?" as if being able to type "make & make install" into a terminal somehow granted you a masters in philosophy, theology and politics. No shit, sometimes I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Re:I'll pay for a RMS interview generator

[ThJ]

I don't see why this guy is such an icon for so many geeks. He seems unsympathetic and makes outrageous black & white statements. I think he gives Linux a bad name.