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Richard Stallman Interview

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the stuff-to-read dept.

Richard Bottoms from LinuxSoft wrote in to say that "Our interview with Richard Stallman is up for those interested in his thoughts on Free Software and freedom. " Its actually one of the better RMS pieces lately. Check out Jay Salzberger's interview if you haven't already as well.

2 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. Once arrogant, always arrogant. by Dast · · Score: 5

    These people don't care about freedom. It's not surprising they don't care about freedom because nobody ever talked to them about freedom.

    That is basically saying that the only people who disagree with you, are those who have not been educated in your ways. That is utter crap. Some people really just want to browse the web. They don't care what they use to do it.

    So we've succeeded. We've produced the GNU system. Even though people call it Linux, they still have the benefit of freedom when they use this system.

    snip

    The GNU system, whether you call it GNU or whether you think it's Linux...

    (Bold tags added by me.)

    Boy, it is a good thing we have RMS around to take credit for everything. We wouldn't want him to be left out of the spotlight would we? No body could possibly disagree with him. If they do, they just don't understand.

    Heh

    Sorry about all of the sarcasm.

    I sure hope the call the HURD kernel Linux/HURD, since from what I understand, HURD uses parts of the Linux kernel.

    --

    This sig is false.

  2. Freedom vs Liberty by Mynok · · Score: 5

    It's truly a shame that RMS has such an abrasive manner. Part of it is certainly due to his passionate belief that software should be free of proprietary constraints. The fact is, he is fighting for something that can be nothing but *good* for both the software industry and for users.

    Linux *is* a GNU system whether anyone admits it or not. The GNU project has always been about gathering free software together into a cohesive, free OS. Linus provided the final piece, giving us the first complete operating system by the GNU project. Few of us use this particular distribution.

    Distribution? Yes, absolutely. GNU/Linux is simply another distribution of "Linux". Other distributions have much in common with the actual GNU/Linux (Debian being the closest), but all add non-GNU pieces to the puzzle, and thus create their own versions of this Linux-based OS.

    The unfortunate reality is that this multitude of versions dilutes the message of the GNU Project and RMS. Open Source has actually become a rival to the FSF in the fight for media attention. The ideology of the FSF has for the first time in its life a sibling movement promoting freedom in software--but not the same freedom.

    RMS sees this very clearly, as do others of us who have been around long enough to appreciate the persecution (not all of it undeserved) that the FSF has received since it was founded. He is terribly afraid that his hard-won freedoms will be taken away, and his fears are not totally unfounded. Not because there is a conspiracy to morph free software into something a little less free (the slippery slope problem), but because the rapidly growing base of free software users are no longer dependent upon the FSF for major pieces. Dilution is occuring, and RMS is fighting hard (and not always in a wise manner) to make sure his message is at least heard if not heeded.