First of all, I do not agree or disagree with Mr. Stallman. However, as a "Spokesman for FOSS" this is definately not what I would expect.
We here generally use some other flavor of Operating System that is a given. And that other flavor does not at all meet with what the public wants. WE want our freedom with our computers. But WE are not every computer user out there. I am not being an elitist here but the fact is that most people want to go to their local computer outlet store, purchase a big black box or laptop and plug it in to surf the web and play Angry Birds. We choose to be different.
But we must also respect those that want to have their computers spoon fed to them else our freedom will mean nothing in the end. Yes Linux installations on both servers and desktops have gone up in the past decade. However, so has the installed base of Windows and OS X. What Steve Jobs did was provide a medium for the average user to have and enjoy a computing experience. He did it well and with many innovations that others failed at (why is the iPhone so big but Blackberry loosing market for example).
Mr. Stallman may be a huge advocate of FOSS and for that I thank him deeply and sincerely. And when our "Spokesman for FOSS" compares Steve Jobs who did what his customers wanted him to do, to a corrupt mayor, it does nothing but shine US, the FOSS users in a negative light. I personally would much rather be associated with the positive side of FOSS than the negative.
Awesome way to put this into perspective. Many people think "Well and hour or two extra a day wont hurt my free time any if its just for a couple of months or even a year" till you put it in terms of the loss of $20K to $30K.
Nicely done.
Slashdot Mirror
First of all, I do not agree or disagree with Mr. Stallman. However, as a "Spokesman for FOSS" this is definately not what I would expect.
We here generally use some other flavor of Operating System that is a given. And that other flavor does not at all meet with what the public wants. WE want our freedom with our computers. But WE are not every computer user out there. I am not being an elitist here but the fact is that most people want to go to their local computer outlet store, purchase a big black box or laptop and plug it in to surf the web and play Angry Birds. We choose to be different.
But we must also respect those that want to have their computers spoon fed to them else our freedom will mean nothing in the end. Yes Linux installations on both servers and desktops have gone up in the past decade. However, so has the installed base of Windows and OS X. What Steve Jobs did was provide a medium for the average user to have and enjoy a computing experience. He did it well and with many innovations that others failed at (why is the iPhone so big but Blackberry loosing market for example).
Mr. Stallman may be a huge advocate of FOSS and for that I thank him deeply and sincerely. And when our "Spokesman for FOSS" compares Steve Jobs who did what his customers wanted him to do, to a corrupt mayor, it does nothing but shine US, the FOSS users in a negative light. I personally would much rather be associated with the positive side of FOSS than the negative.
Awesome way to put this into perspective. Many people think "Well and hour or two extra a day wont hurt my free time any if its just for a couple of months or even a year" till you put it in terms of the loss of $20K to $30K. Nicely done.