Richard Stallman Is Still Head of the GNU Project (gnu.org) 140
On Thursday, Richard Stallman reminded the GNU Project mailing list that "On September 16 I resigned as president of the Free Software Foundation, but the GNU Project and the FSF are not the same. I am still the head of the GNU Project (the Chief GNUisance), and I intend to continue as such."
The next day, with no explanation, a one-sentence update appeared on his personal blog at Stallman.org announcing that "I hereby step down as head of the GNU Project, effective immediately." But a few commenters on social media speculated that the post could have come from someone who'd hijacked Stallman's site -- and sure enough, that sentence had been removed by Sunday morning. In addition, for what it's worth Techrights.org posted an unconfirmed claim Sunday from "a generally reliable source" that "Stallman.org was defaced by an FSF employee. The deface has been reverted, and the domain appears to now be operating on non-FSF infrastructure..."
But whatever's happening, Richard Stallman is still living the life of Richard Stallman. Friday he also posted that he's looking for a room in a shared house or apartment for at least two months.
"There should not be a cat (unless hypoallergenic), or a dog that jumps up excitedly on people (unless quite small), or a digital listening device such as Echo, Siri or 'Hello Google', or a card lock that records who opens the door. I will ask about cameras."
The next day, with no explanation, a one-sentence update appeared on his personal blog at Stallman.org announcing that "I hereby step down as head of the GNU Project, effective immediately." But a few commenters on social media speculated that the post could have come from someone who'd hijacked Stallman's site -- and sure enough, that sentence had been removed by Sunday morning. In addition, for what it's worth Techrights.org posted an unconfirmed claim Sunday from "a generally reliable source" that "Stallman.org was defaced by an FSF employee. The deface has been reverted, and the domain appears to now be operating on non-FSF infrastructure..."
But whatever's happening, Richard Stallman is still living the life of Richard Stallman. Friday he also posted that he's looking for a room in a shared house or apartment for at least two months.
"There should not be a cat (unless hypoallergenic), or a dog that jumps up excitedly on people (unless quite small), or a digital listening device such as Echo, Siri or 'Hello Google', or a card lock that records who opens the door. I will ask about cameras."
I Gnu that ... (Score:5, Funny)
... sorry, low hanging fruit.
Just like Steve Jobs... (Score:1)
When Apple CEO Steve Jobs was pushed out of the company he created, Steve went on to continue his work elsewhere, and eventually, was brought back in to Apple to revitalize the failing company.
I predict that RMS will continue to do great things for the world, regardless of what FSF and his detractors say about him. One day, RMS will return and turn the FSF ship around.
Re:Just like Steve Jobs... (Score:4, Funny)
Maybe RMS will FSF the CEO of AAPL in the DBMS space utilizing MCT PST blockchain CRST cloud BTC STEM and stuff.
Bullshit-o-meter overload (Score:2)
Damn!
You forgot to add "3d printer" and "drone" on the list.
I was that close to winning the buzzword bingo.
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One day, RMS will return and turn the FSF ship around.
They're still waiting for that Jesus guy, though.
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One day, RMS will return and turn the FSF ship around.
They're still waiting for that Jesus guy, though.
That's funny and stuff.
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I predict that RMS will continue to do great things for the world, regardless of what FSF and his detractors say about him. One day, RMS will return and turn the FSF ship around.
Yes, turn the ship around away from the open seas and back towards the rocks.
Note that Steve Jobs 1.0 and 2.0 were very different people. Steve 2.0 could only return to Apple because he learned from his mistakes, changed his mind on some things, and learned new skills appropriate to the job. Stallman is unlikely to do so, he will fade away, he likely won't even be able to provide a Don Quijote level of amusement for us to care about him. He made some contributions to Linux user land, the world is past hi
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He's 66 - I guess all those years living mostly off the grid played hell with his 401k.
Problem is, as he gets older, fewer people are going to want to have to deal with the costs involved if he drops dead while staying with them for a few months.
And that's not counting all the crazies who will want to hold vigils or make a shrine at the place he dies.
Best move is to nail him to
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Crashing with friends is cute in your 20's. In your 60's that shit is just undignified.
GCC, GDB (Score:3)
Until some recent past (up until the point they bought out LLVM and switched to it, among other not liking the newest GPL license blocking TiVo-isation), Apple used to rely on GCC and GDB - pieces of software whose authors include no else than RMS himself.
Yup, lines coded by RMS himself ended-up being employed at Apple for quite some time.
Of course, nowadays, Apple and Google are working hard to expunge their own software stack from anything GPL licensed and are working to put alternatives into place.
Even More (Score:2)
See the following references for proof:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
ht [wikipedia.org]
Re: Just like Steve Jobs... (Score:4, Insightful)
Saints are known for their poverty. Thus your scurrilous attempt to insult the fame of St Richard falls on its face.
You, on the other hand, are a Nazi who works for an evil corporation. I assume you can at least afford a studio apartment in the ghetto.
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At 66 and still couch surfing, he is living proof that his free software economic model is broken even for him
From his request --
I am looking for a room in a shared house or apartment as an interim place where I could stay for at least two months.
....
I can pay reasonable rent. The problem is finding a place to rent.
"Couch surfing" is usually done for free, and that seems to be what you're after. But this looks more like "looking for a room" and "willing to pay" -- this is a pretty typical short term roommate situation and I don't see your link to a "free software economic model".
That said, 66 is older than most people looking for roommates, but it's not like the reasons that people want roommates at 18 can't exist in a 66 year old ...
His room search is off his site now, but it's still on the Internet Archive [archive.org] and minus the parts about digital listening devices and card locks none of what he's looking for is even unusual. (He is more precise than most, but ... that's a good thing if you ask me.)
Roommate (Score:3, Funny)
Hey if you need to hide anything from RMS just put it under the soap!
Don't ask about breakfast... (Score:2)
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Right, you don't want to feed him after midnight. Isn't breakfast technically the first meal of the day? So unless you see him eating something, you may actually be offering him breakfast, right?
The area he's looking to rent in (Score:2)
He's going to spend at least $1700-$2500 for a room or studio. Sorry RMS... Might as well spring for a 2-bedroom or a mortgage at that point.
Commute in or pay the huge premium on living in the city. Even outside of the city... Have an anecdote. My first apartment when I turned 18 cost $700/mo in the greater metro Boston area. (Near Gilette, if anyone cares.) Nowadays, that same apartment costs $2500. It's insane.
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Where I live $2500 a month will get you a mortgage on a million dollar house. Instead people need to feel trendy and live in the city. Enjoy your shoebox.
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Where I live $2500 a month will get you a mortgage on a million dollar house.
Same where I live. Except here the million dollar house is a two bedroom condo.
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Do you not need a deposit to get a mortgage? In the UK you need 10% normally, minimum 5% in most cases. So you would need 100k in cash available to get a mortgage on a million Pound home.
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Do you not need a deposit to get a mortgage? In the UK you need 10% normally, minimum 5% in most cases. So you would need 100k in cash available to get a mortgage on a million Pound home.
Yes, similar practices here. With the exception that an honorably discharged military veteran can get a zero down payment loan, the loan is backed by the government.
Amortization schedules (Score:2)
> Where I live $2500 a month will get you a mortgage on a million dollar house.
No, unless you can get an 0.75% loan (lol!!!) you won't.
LTV of 80% means 20% down ($200K) and 80% financed ($800K). This is higher than the jumbo threshold of $453K for 2019.
The fixed rate for a jumbo rate in the United States is currently higher than 4%.
$800K financed over 30 years, the longest term available, puts the payment closer to $4K, not $2.5K.
But hey, I could be wrong. If you can get a loan for $800K at 0.75% for 3
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Yeah, $1m at $2500 is 30 years to pay back, even with 10% deposit, before interest.
Just not going to happen.
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There are banks that will do 50-year mortgages, but not many. That could land a $2500 monthly payment, not including mortgage insurance and certainly not including property insurance.
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Do they allow longer mortgage terms outside the city?
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Different people value different things (Score:3)
Re: The area he's looking to rent in (Score:2)
"Enjoy your shoebox"
Enjoy your desolate suburban wasteland. :-/
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Rents in any coastal US city are nuts nowadays. I’m not sure how most people manage to live there. And it doesn’t get much better within commuting distance, at least around here (Puget Sound area). I worry for my daughter’s generation.
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Rents in any coastal US city are nuts nowadays.
By some estimates, zoning laws and housing construction restrictions championed by liberals, do more to contribute to inequality in America than conservative tax cuts for the wealthy.
How Zoning Laws Exacerbate Inequality [theatlantic.com]
The link between land use restriction and growing inequality [urban.org]
The left is slowly waking up to the inequality caused by zoning [fee.org]
Re: The area he's looking to rent in (Score:2)
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If you build more office space (or factories or whatever) and don't build houses, then there won't be enough houses, and you will have a housing problem. It's mathematics.
No problem, just build more cars and highways from the outlying regions. ;-)
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No chance you were a huge fan of the Big Dig while it was going on, is there?
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No chance you were a huge fan of the Big Dig while it was going on, is there?
Who wasn't, it was a constant source of amusement. ;-)
Re: The area he's looking to rent in (Score:2)
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Re: The area he's looking to rent in (Score:2)
Increase the high tier power rates for residential customers and watch the grow operations slink out of your city.
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Not only that, but the upfront costs are absurd. Care to guess what single-family house building permits will cost you in the Bay area? As of about 15 years ago, $125,000 for all the permits and fees before you even break ground. (No idea what it is now, but I could ask my sister since she deals with this crap professionally.) In Los Angeles County, last I checked a single-family house building permit was $38k. A neighbor put up a barn that cost him $14k for the barn and $18k for the permit.
Across the line
Re: The area he's looking to rent in (Score:2)
That's why we talk about the explosion of real poverty, not reflected in official statistics. And that's one reason why we talk about the collapse in legitimacy of the state.
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I've always felt the same about all the Youtubers moving to LA. You're literally doing a job where location is basically irrelevant, income can be very inconsistent, and you're going to move to one of the most expensive housing markets in the country????? Doesn't make sense.
Meanwhile in SC I've got a mortgage on a 4-bedroom house for $750 per month with decent weather nearly year-round and beaches within a 30 minute drive.
I canâ(TM)t imagine having Stallman as a room (Score:2)
Subject says it all
Re:I can't imagine having Stallman as a room (Score:1)
having Stallman as a room
I mean, who wouldn't rather have a nice man-cave as an addition to their house, rather than RMS?
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Subject says it all
It's good to have that confirmed because it did feel like something was missing.
Best couch guy stories ever (Score:5, Interesting)
I've frequently had someone stay with me for a few weeks up to a couple of months. Typically a newly sober alcoholic, or somebody fresh out of prison who has nowhere to go. I've referred to them as the "couch guy" - the dude staying on the couch (or spare bedroom) St the time. A couch guy comes in handy when you need to move furniture around or someone nto feed the dog while you're gone for the weekend.
I've had alcoholic couch guys, drug addict couch guys, mentally ill couch guys ... Stallman might be the most interesting couch guy yet. I have a couple extra bedrooms, so if I lived in Boston I'd probably offer. Just for the experience and the stories.
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me neither, that would be so cool!
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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Donald Trump?
Re:This I actually endorse. (Score:5, Interesting)
That's a great question, and one for which I don't have an answer either. But Stallman did have some clear drawbacks even before this incident. I mean, I wouldn't hire me to do it either, so I'm not trying to crucify the guy. I really appreciate everything he's done for software freedom, and hope to also appreciate things he does in the future.
There's also room for basically any number of people to be doing that job, in a variety of contexts. Maybe it's not a good idea for it to be done by one person.
In any case, I'm glad to hear that he's reconfirmed his commitment to GNU.
Re:This I actually endorse. (Score:4, Insightful)
Who do you think can raise the visibility of Free Software better than Richard Stallman?
The authoritarian style leadership under RMS didn't allow for a second in line. Whoever steps up will be either unknown or a different organisation altogether.
Re:This I actually endorse. (Score:5, Insightful)
I said this on the last Stallman forum (Score:4, Interesting)
Stallman struck a nerve by bringing up Epstein. The news cycle combined with an unwritten rule not to talk about the scandals of the rich and well connected meant that nobody, and I mean nobody, was supposed to bring up Epstein in a public contest.
Seriously, this was a billionaire running a pedophile sex ring for other billionaires who died under mysterious circumstances. It should news 24/7. Every angle should be getting dissected and every journalist should be looking for leads. The fact that it isn't shows you just how good the system has gotten.
Stallman broke the 1st rule of Billionaire Pedo Club: "Do not talk about Billionaire Pedo Club". He wasn't even a member. But he was a public figure. Guy never did have even an ounce of tact or the good sense to know when to keep his mouth shut. It makes him endearing, but it also is what got him in trouble.
That said, I'd rather like to live in a world where it didn't.
Re: I said this on the last Stallman forum (Score:4, Interesting)
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Someone illicitly changing his homepage certainly supports that theory.
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Right, powerful people thought that hacking his site to make an easily retracted fake announcement would certainly destroy him.
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The teachers at the time even tried shaming him out of his job by having him each entry level signals at which he was terrible at doing, apparently he'd only had a single doctorates student during his tenure and they switched to someone
RMS Achievements (Score:3)
RMS did little to advance computer science. Nothing I know of.
He's among the authors of GCC, GDB.
Okay, he didn't invent a new "compiler theory", only wrote the most influencial of them all (except for the newcomer LLVM).
While at MIT, RMS published "dependency-directed backtracking" [wikipedia.org], still a major method used nowadays.
He did advance computer science.
But surely he achieved massively on the matter of "free computing" and "privacy".
Ironically, the very message "i don't even know him, but I'm outraged and want MIT to kick him out" by the SJW (which was used as a pretext of MIT to get rid of RMS) was posted on a medium (a website coincidentally called
Re: I said this on the last Stallman forum (Score:2)
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That's the worst plan ever. And obviously it failed.
You said powerful people. Admins and coworkers is your definition of powerful people?
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This is sounding more and more like a conspiracy. Stretching the meaning of words to justify offhand and unfounded comments.
Do you have a shred of evidence?
Re: I said this on the last Stallman forum (Score:2)
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Oh, definitely. I've never been thirsty in my life, nor met anyone else who had been. [ducks]
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Even so, I still think Stallman was hard done by. In the old days people who disagreed with you might say "I think you are wrong", or "you are wrong", or even "how dare you say something like that?". Nowadays, it's "You are evil and I'll have your career for that". For having the wrong opinion. Modern-day McCarthy-ism.
Even in the old days, people still said "you have demonstrated a sustained failure over many years to provide adequate leadership, of which the latest instance is an example, and have therefore we call for you to be stripped of your leadership."
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And who is this mythical person that is going to be this amazing spokesperson for the FSF pushing free and open software for all? Because I don't see anybody else and no one is rushing to take the position.
To me, I see this as a blow to every opensource and free software out there. But this is now characteristic of our society of cutting corners (Legally and physically). This is the new trend and Stallman stands in the way of this trend of cutting corners. I see a lot of opensource projects being misused in
Re: This I actually endorse. (Score:2)
I'll do it. I'm fine with cats and jumping dogs. I may teach your parrot nonsense fake French phrases.
Re: This I actually endorse. (Score:2)
We all know the next "leader" appointmented by the FSF board will be a Corporate Social Just-Us Nazi who will inevitably sell out the Free Software community for the benefit of her megacorp paymasters. That's why St Richard was purged. You know it, I know it, EVERYONE knows it.
Reality Show (Score:1)
> Friday he also posted that he's looking for a room in a shared house or apartment for at least two
> months.
>
> "There should not be a cat (unless hypoallergenic), or a dog that jumps up excitedly on people
> (unless quite small), or a digital listening device such as Echo, Siri or 'Hello Google', or a card
> lock that records who opens the door. I will ask about cameras."
Forget security cameras - install TV cameras and mics. This would be the only reality show worth watching.
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No smart locks, TVs, or speakers, though.
If you have a smartphone, I’m guessing that “digital listening device” would also disqualify you as a roommate.
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The rents around Cambridge are *outrageous*. Unless you are in MIT or Harvard housing, It's at least $2500/month for even a loft or very small one bedroom apartment with no parking, no pets, and no utilities. The ads on Craigslist below that price are all frauds, leading to someone "out of the country right now, but you can look at the outside!", or like the fake single ads on adultfriendfinder they are bots that respond with a clickable link to a paid subscription housing website that has no actual housing
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RMS also needs help at home: his hands are ruined, yes, because he uses Emacs. So he needs help doing even the most basic programming these days, and handling email and any chat service he uses.
One of my bosses blamed his severe carpal on Emacs, and had one of those divot-shaped Kinesis keyboards plugged into an expensive converter box on his SparcStation. Surely someone could donate one of those.
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All that CTRL-whatever does not help. I guess you can always use the Vi mode in Emacs.
Re: Reality Show (Score:2)
RMS also needs help at home: his hands are ruined, yes, because he uses Emacs.
I'm a donating patron of the vi side of that holy war, and I protest: it's uncool to kick the guy while heâ(TM)s down.
Defaced by an FSF employee (Score:2)
When he resigned as president, did he also resign from the FSF organization? Or would the descriptor “FSF employee“ still match RMS himself?
He’s always seemed to live just on the outskirts of crazy-town... guess I’m wondering if he’s finally taken that step of crossing over the city limits.
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Visionaries often do.
Not picky enough (Score:2)
There should not be a cat (unless hypoallergenic), or a dog that jumps up excitedly on people (unless quite small),
I've found that the really small jumping dogs are the worst. Those are the ones that get so excited that they pee on your legs.
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I've found that the really small jumping dogs are the worst. Those are the ones that get so excited that they pee on your legs.
Yep and the really big jumping dogs, they're the worst too. Can knock you over and drown you in slobber. Don't get me started on the medium sized ones.
Remaining dogs (Score:2)
So what's left?
"Unusal-sized polka dancing [youtube.com] dogs ?"
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Every year, SJWs move closer to formally declaring the view that they are the Faithful and it's straight up open season on those that disagree with them.
As this is concerning RMS: pot meet kettle, enjoy what's left of your glass house.
Re: Well, that's SJWs for you (Score:2)
When has RMS chosen to destroy his opponents instead of walking away and doing his own thing?
Re: Well, that's SJWs for you (Score:2)
Do you work with any Social Just-Us Nazis? If so, report one of them to HR today! They are hateful people, surely you can find something one has done that warrants a trip to the commisars.
Stallman can't afford a house? (Score:2)
Being on MIT faculty and as visiting scientist for decades, surely he has the means to build a domicile that fits his criteria. If he just needs two months before he is building one, he doesn't have to stoop to AirBNB, there are hotels.
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Do they at least qualify to live in MIT housing? Why does RMS suddenly need housing?
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Sometimes they do. Being a Visiting Scientist is a really unstable position to be in. The status is ill defined and that is on purpose.
RMS housing (Score:2)
Why does RMS suddenly need housing?
Because he used to actually live in his office, having a bed there for this exact purpose.
As being kicked out of the MIT, he doesn't have an office anymore, thus not even a place to put his bed into.
As he mentions in his room seeking ad, it's not the money that's the problem. He can pay rent, he only needs to find the suitable place to pay rent for.
(keep in mind that he is weird. Having room-mate is probably his only way to get some base level of social interactions, and that's why he is specifically lookin
So much negativity here. (Score:5, Insightful)
I dont know Richard that well but I have spent hours on different occasions talking with him
in a group. All the accusations and rumors above are just sad.
I bet the people making them have never sat down and even had a conversation with him.
He is eccentric and he lives life by his own rules as far as that is possible.
I admire that. I admire eccentrics.
For all the modern talk of inclusiveness, we are at the same time excluding eccentrics more and more.
I dont live in the right part of the country, but I would be happy to offer him a place to stay.
I have no idea what his financial situation is as some speculate above but i am sure none of the commenters know either.
What I do know is that he is not driven by trying to get rich,
Bingo (Score:2)
This is considered dangerous behaviour by the rich and powerful elite. Those who control their own Bullshit Spreader Armies.
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As a fan of his for many years, it's BECAUSE he's eccentric that I'd love to sit down and talk to him. Well, not even talk. I would just listen.
I also agree with other posters here - this "I don't agree with you, and because of that I'm going to ruin you." is some seriously dangerous stuff.
My thought is is if enough people stood up to these folks that try to ruin others, it would stop. Similar to how "you cannot fire them all" you also cannot "ruin" them all.
Don't even know him (Score:2)
I bet the people making them have never sat down and even had a conversation with him.
The SJW who sparked the whole shit show openly said in her medium post that she doesn't even know who RMS is, only that she's outraged by his mails.
Yeah, what a nice example.
Stallman (Score:2)
The FSF is not only acting against its founder (Score:4, Insightful)
... but also against the very principles it was built upon. The most important of those principles is "free as in freedom" which includes the freedom to express your opinion.
And it is not only one employee abusing his privileges as an FSF employee, but also the FSF not condemning those actions nor making an effort to identify and oust the wrongdoer. It seems like a majority in the FSF organisation doesn't even consider the defacement as "wrongdoing".
Seems like a beggars vs choosers situation (Score:2)
Seems like that would get old though.
"Hey Richard, I just bought this really cool new LG refrigerator. It gives you reminders that you're out of stuff."
RMS: *hiss*
Good luck to whomever decided to take him in.
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what exactly about that listing makes you look down on him and judge him?
You sound like a stuck up wear-the-nails asshole.
Re: Personal Life (Score:2)
Maybe, brodidley, just maybe St Richard has spent his entire life fighting for YOUR freedom rather than chasing the almighty dollar.
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