Transcript of Talk with Richard Stallman

An anonymous reader writes "This is the transcript of the talk with Richard Stallman, the father of GNU in the background of the 4th International GPLv3 Conference being held at Bangalore where RMS is a prominent delegate. He answers questions related to GPLv3, DRM and a couple of other queries."

Comments

Very historically significant

[rice_burners_suck]

A transcript of a talk with the father of free software is something that will forever go down in history as a very meaningful talk. It will be remembered long after Abraham Lincoln's State of the Union Address is forgotten.

Re:Is this some kind of... God ?

[morcego]

Now, this is something I do not get: are Linus, Richard Stallman some kind of Gods ?

Actually, I tend to place RMS in the "Bozo" category.

Re:Time to burn karma

[SpacePunk]

This is because he's a damn hippie.

From the article
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Q. There are a lot of misconceptions about free software. What kind of an economic model does an entrepreneur look at when he starts out with free software ?

RMS: I want to ask you why that question is worth asking. First of all there are many people who don't have to make money. Importantly even if a person has to make a living, he doesn't have to make a living from everything he does.

Lots of people develop free software in their free time and there are people who have to make a living and they do make a living.

To jump from, this person is not rich and therefore has to work, to this person can't write free software because he is not paid to write it, is an error.

There are over a million contributors to free software, a substantial fraction is getting paid and a majority are volunteers.

I suspect the reason people bring up this question of economics as a secondary detail is because they are labouring under the misconception that the free software community is impossible, unless the developers are getting paid.
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He can't even wrap his brain around the concept that EVERYONE has to make a living unless they live in their parents basement, is indipendently wealthy, or makes fees spouting worthless hippie shit around the world. I honestly get the feeling that he has never, ever, had to make it in the real world. Perhaps he is a trust fund baby, perhaps he travels around like a deadhead, or perhaps both. Yes, people can make free software. No, people cannot make a living if that is all they do. Those that say they do have to have some means of support (other than parents, trust funds, PELL grants, etc...), and in 'the free software community' that is support.

Re:One sentence told me all I needed to know

[SpacePunk]

I've been saying this for awhile. He panders 'free software' as in 'free speech', but what he really means is 'free software' as in 'free beer'. I'd put up with his hippie shit more if he'd just be up front about it instead of trying to hide what he really means. Untill then, he's just talking out of his ass.