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by bdcravens 3631 days ago
Years ago HN had a higher percentage of Slashdot refugees or whatever you want to call them, where what I'd call hard-nosed OSS was part of the dialog and the arguments were fresh. These days, there's many who see him less as a controversial figure within "their" community, and more of a crazy old guy with extremist views.
2 comments
cageface 3631 days ago
The more time goes by the less crazy he seems. His goals may not be realistic but his predictions about the dangers of dependence on commercial software have been vindicated in many instances. And things might get much worse still if the trend towards authoritarian leadership in Western countries continues.
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zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 3630 days ago
A bit nit-picky, but RMS is perfectly fine with commercial software (software that is sold for money), he objects to proprietary software (software that you cannot read and modify the source code of). Freeware is not commercial, but proprietary. When you buy a Linux distro CD, that's commercial, but might be non-proprietary (depending on the distro).
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paulryanrogers 3630 days ago
Yet selling software--not services--seems incompatible with RMS's insistence on the freedom of end users to distribute without cost.
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zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 3630 days ago
It's not incompatible in the slightest. If I write software and give it to you only in exchange for money, licenced under the GPL, then I am selling software completely in agreement with RMS's principles.

Also, RMS doesn't insist on any freedom of end users to distribute without cost. Only on you not limiting their redistribution.

Now, that makes some licencing models impossible, sure, but those are hardly the only way to sell software.

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cpach 3630 days ago
It sure is harder, but not impossible.
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kiba 3631 days ago
The crazy old guy who turned out to be right when people do get screwed over.

What he's good at doing is pointing out that certain things are not in our interest.

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cocotino 3631 days ago
Everybody knows he's right. The question is not whether he's right, but whether it matters.
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wiz21 3630 days ago
Yep, damn right. That's why it's so important that RMS says free software is political. As an ideology, it always matters as long as you like it.

People care about free software as much as they care about politics : only a few know enough to make a difference...

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