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ZNet interviews Richard Stallman
ProgressiveCynic writes "ZNet has just published an interview with Richard Stallman. Much of the interview will be review for Slashdot folks, intended to introduce ZNet's audience to the free software movement, but many interesting bits remain including a discussion on the outlawing of free software, patents as applied to literature, and this quote: 'I'm a Liberal, in US terms (not Canadian terms). I'm against fascism.'"
He's a bit crazy, but visionaries always are
A bit of MIT/LCS lore here.
RMS used to live on the 7th floor of LCS. That's where he used to have his office before he resigned in protest over the commercialization of something or another. But they let him keep his office, and he lives there, because he refuses to have an apartment. (Given the rent rates in Cambridge, the assholeness of most landlords, I don't blame him. Rather than live in my office, I chose to move to Texas, and the change in rent rates and lack of state income tax resulted in an immediate %25 pay raise. RMS doesn't have that option because we have the death penalty for people like him down here.)
Anyway, RMS has or had a number or geek chick groupies. I wouldn't call any of the ones I've seen "hot", really -- well except for this one little psycho jewish undergrad from NYC. He would sleep with them on the sofa in his office. That's why he got kicked out off floor 7, and down to the 3 floor, is that the cleaning staff complained about pulling used condoms out from behind the sofas. No joke. You can use this information for trolling if you wish, but it's all true.
RMS has a phobia of water that prevents him from showering. This is part of this post I know from first hand experience, because I myself have observed him taking a sponge bath in the 3d floor mens room in LCS. Apparently once he had a girlfriend who he was totally in love with, and she convinced him to take one shower a week. It was a traumatic experience for him each time.
RMS also has a phobia of spider plants. When RMS starts bothering a grad student and going to his office and talking to him constantly and getting him to spend all his time writing free software, the grad student will complain to someone on the floor, and they'll let them in on the secrete -- get a spider plant in your office. The next time RMS drops by, his eyes will bulge a little and he'll say " Umm. . . I wanted to talk to you about hacking some elisp code . . . why don't you stop by my office sometime ?" and make a hasty exit.
One of his more nasty habits is picking huge flakes of dandruff out of his hair while talking to you. At least he doesn't eat them, like some people I know.
Now, I know everyone loves to make fun of RMS, and I'm feeding that a bit here, so I'd just like to say that I think he really is a genius, on the order of Socrates (another filthy slob who couldn't keep a normal living arrangement, and lived in a barrel) or Ghandi or Ezekiel. Everything he has ever said to me, while sounding naive and idealistic and stupid at the time, turned out to later be correct.
The only thing I fear in his philosophy is his interest in reducing population growth. Everyone else I know of who was obsessed with that "problem" turned out to have facist or totolitarian tendencies, and I think that the problem will solve itself as more and more of the world moves into a middle class type existence.
But on everything else, bitter experiences have taught me he is right. I will not use any non-GPLd or lGPLd software, and I look forward to being able to buy only "open" hardware. I would like to see software patents completely eliminated, and with the development of digitial communication, I see no reason why shouldn't simply repeal all of Title 17 and do away with all copyrights. They just aren't needed. I expect to spend much of my life being paid to write software, and I just don't see copyrights has helping me in anyway.
I just want to say one thing: Mr. Richard Stallman is full of angst and passion and venom. In the text that follows, when I quote from Stallman, I will use the word "excrement" in place of another word which is now apparently permitted in general circulation publications and which I have edited out. Although the proper definition of "photodisintegration" is hotly disputed, he is locked into his present course of destruction. He does not have the interest or the will to change his fundamentally lubricious obiter dicta. Think of all the lives t
The IEEE has officially deemed stallman a wookie.
Goddammit, RMS is such a whiny bitch.
"Bitch, bitch, bitch, GNU Linux, whine, whine, whine. Everyone is calling things the wrong names. Why aren't I getting all the recognition? Linus Torvalds isn't that great."
Just STFU already you bottom-of-the-hill has-been hippie weirdo!
And get a motherfucking haircut.
I think he is a college professor. Meaning that he will have to teach a couple of classes and sign up for grants for whatever whim he has at the time. I have respect for real Professors who feel teaching Higher Education as a passion and enjoys the topic of their choice. But I don't have much for RMS where he just uses his classes to spit out more dribble and get more mindless followers, and teach a little bit of the topic. Then he uses his remaining time thinking how evil every thing is. In real life outside academics we need to work for our money and do things we may not want to do. Sure I would love to release all my software for free so everyone can use it and enjoy it, but I have bills to pay. Many (Many meaning not all, the are exceptions, I don't need you to point them out, I know!) academics like RMS, and including many lower ed. teachers have never left the educational institution and their view of the world is based on this view. I know from experience that life outside education is different from inside. I found real life far more humbling then in education. In education you have defined titles of greatness. Your Grade School Level K-12, then there is Under Grad, Graduate, Doctorate, Adjunct, Asst. Professor, Professor, Chairman, Dean, President. In real life the borders are not that clear, your value is in what you can do not what you think. The rules of real life outside of academics is much more different, here if you are a manager of one company you could just be qualified to do basic work at an other. If the company see that you are not beneficial to the company then chances are you will get fired or laid off in the next round. Risks are a lot higher in Real Life, you may not have a Union who will protect you from your neglect and prevent you to reach your peak. Sure GNU is a good idea, but it doesn't always work and to expect all software to use it is a pipe dream, GNU software is great for the Student and College professors who have some time on their hand because they will get paid anyways, even if the program doesn't work. But in the commercial sector, we don't always have that option, we can release some free software but we need to keep our most unique programs to ourselves so we can make money to pay the bills. I myself write code licensed to my customers. They pay me for the time it takes to write it. Once they have it, and pay me, they can do anything they want with it. They can sell it as a closed source application, they can make it open source for all to see under the GNU or whatever, or they can just use it, modify it or whatever. But the point is that someone has to pay me for my time, if they are not willing to pay me Ill go to someone else who is.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
"'I'm a Liberal"
Yeah, I kind of figured that out from all the anti-Bush stuff on this website.
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
Well, that's reality. Leftists tend to be over-optimistic about the altruism of their fellow men.