We need more of Richard Stallman, not less
ploum.net
We need more of Richard Stallman, not less écrit par Ploum, Lionel Dricot, ingénieur, écrivain de science-fiction, développeur de logiciels libres.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/1366662

Richard Stallman was right since the very beginning. Every warning, every prophecy realised. And, worst of all, he had the solution since the start. The problem is not Richard Stallman or the Free Software Foundation. The problem is us. The problem is that we didn’t listen.

  • ozoned@beehaw.orgEnglish
    103·
    2 years ago

    I agree that free and open source is the only way forward.

    However, RMS is quite extreme. He once told Bryan Lunduke on Linux Action Show that his children should starve instead of Bryan working on proprietary code.

    He also believes necrophilia is a harmless crime and that it’s immoral to have children as they a large cost of global warming. And let’s not forget he didn’t think there was anything wrong with child sex thing, though he did apologize and later state he wasn’t versed on the science that shows major harm can be done mentally and emotionally from it. Not defending him in the least in this, just stating he apologized.

    I’m not saying this to say he’s a terrible person, he’s not. But he’s a person and we need to remember to never put anyone on a pedastal as everyone has something we won’t agree with.

    • flambonkscious@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      3·
      2 years ago

      As the article clearly states…

      Disclaimer: I’m aware that Richard Stallman had some questionable or inadequate behaviours. I’m not defending those nor the man himself. I’m not defending blindly following that particular human (nor any particular human). I’m defending a philosophy, not the philosopher. I claim that his historical vision and his original ideas are still adequate today. Maybe more than ever.

    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      2·
      2 years ago

      Yeah, he’s a weird dude, but he truly lived what he believed WRT free software, and that has a lot of value.

      I’m not really on board with GPL everything, but I do think it makes a lot of sense in many cases.