[vacri]

True enough, but it seemed to be in the context of the thread when I first read it.

I don't think of what RMS does as oppression, but more as 'toughlove'. Not for everyone, sure, but I think it's mischaracterised as oppression. He's more interested in having you be principled than using his products, and only his products.

[chousuke]

It's one thing I respect about RMS. He has a well-defined set of (entirely reasonable) freedoms that he wants to promote, and whatever follows logically from those freedoms is what he recommends to everyone. "His products" are free software in general. I'm sure he wouldn't mind you using a working, free piece of software that solves your problem, even if it were made by Microsoft.

If you can argue with logic that your viewpoint does not conflict with his axioms, I'm sure he would find it agreeable. It's not oppression, since there is no compulsion, but RMS tries his darndest to promote what he sees is right, and he seeks to have a logical reasoning behind everything.