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by p4bl0 5435 days ago
It strikes me that each time there's link on HN or reddit pointing to something RMS said/wrote, there's someone saying this. Always something along the line of "Usually he is overreacting/a dangerous fanatic, but this time I like what he said and how he said it".

Once and for all let's admit that RMS is actually a quite reasonable guy and that when his reactions are "over the top" it is the exception and not the rule. Let's also realize that his "over the top" reactions are due to his role in the FSF and the GNU project. If he is not the one being obsessed by the definition of "free software" versus "open source" then who will be? It's a matter of drawing too hard in one direction so the "forces" compensate and the general direction is as close as possible to what is reasonable.
3 comments
Wilduck 5435 days ago
> Let's also realize that his "over the top" reactions are due to his role in the FSF and the GNU project.

I remember an interview with RMS where he basically said that, while this cause is very important to him, the amount of pressure he felt in his role as a free software leader was enormous. I think you're probably right, he seems to get a lot of scorn for being a radical, and not enough praise for his integrity and results.

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losvedir 5435 days ago
My opinion of RMS's "over the top"-ness comes mainly from my time on the MIT CSAIL mailing list where his comments were routinely annoying and unhelpful.

Someone would email asking a question about Windows or Photoshop, and RMS would invariably chime in with something like, "you know, you shouldn't use that, it's like supporting a dictator."

So it is with that background that I was impressed with his comments here. On that mailing list I actually would say over the top reactions were the rule, rather than the exception. That said, maybe taken among all his public fora, he's quite reasonable. I haven't seen/heard him much elsewhere.

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owenmarshall 5435 days ago
IMO, RMS' reactions are rarely "over the top"; in fact, if you look at them, they are almost always completely consistent with his beliefs surrounding free software.

We may see them as "over the top" because we aren't as principled as he is.

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