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by rmusial 2436 days ago
That so many people are asking "where is Stallman" on a site called Faces of Open Source makes be wonder how many of RMS' fans actually really listen to him. He loathes the term Open Source and sees it as direct attack on him and his Free Software movement[1].

[1] https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point....

3 comments

Reading their about page [1], I'm not convinced they're making a conscious decision to call it open source instead of free software. I don't think the general public (which this is aimed at, it seems) differentiates the two either.

[1] http://www.facesofopensource.com/about/

It's not the site's issue, it's Stallman. Even if they didn't intend for it to be a strict Open Source site, it has Open Source in the name which Stallman wouldn't participate in. The same way Stallman won't participate in (at least at the time of writing this comment) shows or conferences that only use Linux in the name and not GNU/Linux. For example he won't go to something like Ohio LinuxFest and the Linux Action Show had to rename itself the GNU/Linux Action Show to get him to come on. For some people the work of changing the name is worth it, for others it's not worth the hassle.
OSDEM conference even renamed itself on request of Stallman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FOSDEM#cite_ref-3
> Yet much of this software is “open source” — a technology commons that can be freely used and contributed to by anyone, but at the same time, is controlled by no one person or corporation.

That's pretty much the definition of free software; so yeah... Weird choices.

No it isn't. Free software is about specific software freedoms originally defined by the FSF which overlap, but are not quite accurately captured by that statement. So yeah, Stallman would object because he's all about such fine distinctions.
If I recall correctly there is only one or two licenses among hundreds that aren't both recognized by the FSF and the OSI. The differences are largely ideological, not technical/legal. I'm a fan of Open Source but my main side project is under GPL v2.
Doesn’t really matter if he hates it, they are not mutually exclusive, and the free software movement and the gnu project have contributed greatly to open source software in general.
It does matter because he would have to agree to participate and to sit down with the person who runs the site, Peter Adams, and let Peter take his picture(s).
Linux is Free Software though. By this logic, Linus Torvalds shouldn't be on the page either.
Faces of Open Source is ran by a photographer named Peter Adams. Peter coordinates with the subject of his photos (for example Linus Torvalds) and asks if they want to be a part of his photo project. Since Linus Torvalds doesn't mind the term Open Source he is happy to participate in this project. Since Richard Stallman does not like the term Open Source he would or has more than likely declined to be a part of this project.