| Author |
Message |
hubi
|
|
Post subject: "Richard Stallman Was Right All Along"
 Posted: 02.01.2012, 23:33
|
|
Moderator
Joined: 2010-09-11
Posts: 220
Location: Vienna (AT)
Status: Offline
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
raid
|
|
|
Post subject: RE: "Richard Stallman Was Right All Along"
Posted: 03.01.2012, 01:17
|
|
Joined: 2010-09-11
Posts: 8
Status: Offline
|
|
When he argued about bitkeeper, he sounded like the idealist, and Torvalds like the pragmatist. It turned out his idealism is just pragmatism that looks further in the future.
The real idealists are Jobs, and Gates. That dream is that products of megacorps which are bigger than capitalism itself can behave like products of free market and serve their users. That isn't possible because the market is not free at those level.
I even met the RMS in person, he was giving an intro lecture across the street from where I was. I basically agree with him except for one point: if "a friend asks you for a copy of a closed source program" I don't give it to him, the owner doesn't want it to be shared? FINE, let's both try to live without it. It follows that I like commercial licenses to be upheld just like the gpl (no more no less) and don't want to suppress or replace proprietary software, I just want to be able to base things on free software to benefit me and indirectly everybody.
After all, "Freely you have received, freely give" (must be in Matthew somewhere). |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
gutterslob
|
|
|
Post subject: RE: "Richard Stallman Was Right All Along"
Posted: 03.01.2012, 14:20
|
|
Joined: 2010-12-25
Posts: 42
Location: Wandering
Status: Offline
|
|
RMS has always been a bit of a nutter (in a nice way, for the most part) and to his credit, quite a few of his "prophecies" have come to pass (CarrierIQ, locked bootloaders...etc), but that article by Thom Holwerda is a bit hit'n'miss , imho. His writing has improved tremendously over the years, but he's starting to get this sensationalist streak in him, which isn't really good unless you work for a Hollywood tabloid (or Apple fan-magazine).
Was a decent write-up until the last paragraph:
Quote:
This is why you should support Android (not Google, but Android), even if you prefer the iPhone. ...... There's going to be a point where being Free/open is no longer a fun perk, but a necessity.
Support Android? Is this some kind of joke?
Android has become the Windows of the smartphone world, with OEMs coming with all sorts of bloat and carriers being given the freedom to put all sorts of tracking and data-mining stuff. If anything, I'd say you're at bigger risk of being "monitored" using an Android handset compared to an iPhone. Sure, rooting and installing custom ROMs probably does negate the problem to some extent, but you can never be sure. If you asked me to put on my tin-foil hat, I'd say we should be buying Meego phones like the N9 or something instead, or find ways to have alternative operating systems (not mods of Android) installed on current smartphones. Mer for example, among others.
Note: The previous paragraph was not a dig at RMS, but the guy who wrote that article.
Just my 2 cents. |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
