4 ms·

There is also lots of points where he's pretty detached from reality. One reason he doesn't browse the web is that non free software javascript would somehow hu

There is also lots of points where he's pretty detached from reality. One reason he doesn't browse the web is that non free software javascript would somehow hurt him. He's the reason why GCC is so monolithic and why so much progress was hindered in the last years. He thinks that non-copyleft licensed projects can't work when there are tons of counterexamples.

vezzy-fnord 11y ago
One reason he doesn't browse the web is that non free software javascript would somehow hurt him. Not using social media is considered a badge of honor by many. Not using the web (although that's not entirely true in RMS' case, he just heavily limits it [1]) should be considered a commendable feat, too. Since it's RMS, though, it's just another opportunity to disparage him. He thinks that non-copyleft licensed projects can't work when there are tons of counterexamples. Where has he said they "can't" work? The FSF lists scenarios where they endorse non-copyleft here: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-recommendations.html https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-recommendations.html RMS himself has encouraged use of non-copyleft in the cases of e.g. Qt and Ogg Vorbis, either as transitional licenses or as means to free up the software when the alternative would have been remaining proprietary. He says as much here: https://lwn.net/2001/0301/a/rms-ov-license.php3 https://lwn.net/2001/0301/a/rms-ov-license.php3 [1] https://stallman.org/stallman-computing.html https://stallman.org/stallman-computing.html
- tbrownaw 11y ago
  Not using social media is considered a badge of honor by many. Sure, but why? Because it's difficult? Because it's useless newfangled morally-corrupting stuff? Not using the web ... should be considered a commendable feat, too. Again, why? The web is useful. Is it also commendable to cook all your own food from scratch, do all your laundry by hand, avoid use of electricity, etc?
  - EGreg 11y ago
    Yes, maybe if it wasn't marketed so much from economies of scale we won't be using up so many resources on this planet and making so much garbage.
  - timonovici 11y ago
    Mostly because you descend into a circle of procrastination and self-hate. And the funny thing is, they are engineered that way: facebook doesn't want you to keep the connections with your dear ones, all they want is to keep you more and more on their website, scrolling mindlessly. That why I blocked the site in /etc/hosts, and only use messenger.com and pidgin with the new facebook plugin.
    - macawfish 11y ago
      I blocked it in /etc/hosts and also deleted my account permanently. After doing this my sense of life's possibilities became enhanced... The world stopped feeling overdetermined, even predetermined, by what was on facebook. Facebook's seemingly innocuous site has turned out to be an incredibly intricate mmorpg where your character is some uncannily "realistic" version of "you," and whose map slowly begins to dominate your territory. It is an extremely addicting game for some of us.
  - serf 11y ago
    Sure, but why? Because it's difficult? Because it's useless newfangled morally-corrupting stuff? Because it's a socially dividing privacy issue to want to involve yourself with social media; even if you choose to use it passively. Is it also commendable to cook all your own food from scratch, do all your laundry by hand, avoid use of electricity, etc? Yes, it is, but i'll leave it as an exercise to the reader to discover as to why such things may be commendable.
Sir_Substance 11y ago
>One reason he doesn't browse the web is that non free software javascript would somehow hurt him. I run a script blocker and ad blocker for exactly the same reason. Do a quick google search for "malvertising" and you'll discover he's got a point. Stallman is extreme in all things. He doesn't use mobile phones or credit cards either, IIRC. I can't afford to be as extreme as him, I use a pre-paid visa card for online purchases and temporarily whitelist scripts on the web as I need them. However, companies like Google, Microsoft, Comcast and Paypal would have you believe that an existence without the products they are pushing is completely impossible, and I think it's both an important and worthwhile thing to be the man standing at the other end of the spectrum proving that they are full of shit. That's what Stallman is doing.
slowmovintarget 11y ago
His internet habits have come to pass for a few reasons. He is extremely security conscious. He doesn't like "active" content and so uses a script to download the web pages he wants to read for later browsing from an off-network computer. This has nothing to do with the license status of the JavaScript. Do you run IE? Or do you run Firefox or Chrome with ad blocking? He prefers not to trade personal information to pay for access to communications platforms that have little additional utility to e-mail from his perspective. I'd disagree that this is detached from reality. He just doesn't hang out in the same bar as you. Regarding the GCC, he's made a calculated trade-off of modularity and simplicity for the sake of the GPL's "walled city" of free software. Complecting for effect, if you will. As for his opinion of non-copyleft software, I think you'd need to qualify your "can't work" phrase. I say this because I think he's absolutely right if we qualify the phrase as "can't work to protect consumer's long-term freedom." I would disagree with your characterization if you are claiming RMS thinks that only copy-left licensed software can be successful. I'm fairly sure RMS sees both Windows and Mac OS X as harmful successes.

vezzy-fnord 11y ago

One reason he doesn't browse the web is that non free software javascript would somehow hurt him. Not using social media is considered a badge of honor by many. Not using the web (although that's not entirely true in RMS' case, he just heavily limits it [1]) should be considered a commendable feat, too. Since it's RMS, though, it's just another opportunity to disparage him. He thinks that non-copyleft licensed projects can't work when there are tons of counterexamples. Where has he said they "can't" work? The FSF lists scenarios where they endorse non-copyleft here: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-recommendations.html https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-recommendations.html RMS himself has encouraged use of non-copyleft in the cases of e.g. Qt and Ogg Vorbis, either as transitional licenses or as means to free up the software when the alternative would have been remaining proprietary. He says as much here: https://lwn.net/2001/0301/a/rms-ov-license.php3 https://lwn.net/2001/0301/a/rms-ov-license.php3 [1] https://stallman.org/stallman-computing.html https://stallman.org/stallman-computing.html

tbrownaw 11y ago
Not using social media is considered a badge of honor by many. Sure, but why? Because it's difficult? Because it's useless newfangled morally-corrupting stuff? Not using the web ... should be considered a commendable feat, too. Again, why? The web is useful. Is it also commendable to cook all your own food from scratch, do all your laundry by hand, avoid use of electricity, etc?
- EGreg 11y ago
  Yes, maybe if it wasn't marketed so much from economies of scale we won't be using up so many resources on this planet and making so much garbage.
- timonovici 11y ago
  Mostly because you descend into a circle of procrastination and self-hate. And the funny thing is, they are engineered that way: facebook doesn't want you to keep the connections with your dear ones, all they want is to keep you more and more on their website, scrolling mindlessly. That why I blocked the site in /etc/hosts, and only use messenger.com and pidgin with the new facebook plugin.
  - macawfish 11y ago
    I blocked it in /etc/hosts and also deleted my account permanently. After doing this my sense of life's possibilities became enhanced... The world stopped feeling overdetermined, even predetermined, by what was on facebook. Facebook's seemingly innocuous site has turned out to be an incredibly intricate mmorpg where your character is some uncannily "realistic" version of "you," and whose map slowly begins to dominate your territory. It is an extremely addicting game for some of us.
- serf 11y ago
  Sure, but why? Because it's difficult? Because it's useless newfangled morally-corrupting stuff? Because it's a socially dividing privacy issue to want to involve yourself with social media; even if you choose to use it passively. Is it also commendable to cook all your own food from scratch, do all your laundry by hand, avoid use of electricity, etc? Yes, it is, but i'll leave it as an exercise to the reader to discover as to why such things may be commendable.

Sir_Substance 11y ago

>One reason he doesn't browse the web is that non free software javascript would somehow hurt him. I run a script blocker and ad blocker for exactly the same reason. Do a quick google search for "malvertising" and you'll discover he's got a point. Stallman is extreme in all things. He doesn't use mobile phones or credit cards either, IIRC. I can't afford to be as extreme as him, I use a pre-paid visa card for online purchases and temporarily whitelist scripts on the web as I need them. However, companies like Google, Microsoft, Comcast and Paypal would have you believe that an existence without the products they are pushing is completely impossible, and I think it's both an important and worthwhile thing to be the man standing at the other end of the spectrum proving that they are full of shit. That's what Stallman is doing.

slowmovintarget 11y ago

His internet habits have come to pass for a few reasons. He is extremely security conscious. He doesn't like "active" content and so uses a script to download the web pages he wants to read for later browsing from an off-network computer. This has nothing to do with the license status of the JavaScript. Do you run IE? Or do you run Firefox or Chrome with ad blocking? He prefers not to trade personal information to pay for access to communications platforms that have little additional utility to e-mail from his perspective. I'd disagree that this is detached from reality. He just doesn't hang out in the same bar as you. Regarding the GCC, he's made a calculated trade-off of modularity and simplicity for the sake of the GPL's "walled city" of free software. Complecting for effect, if you will. As for his opinion of non-copyleft software, I think you'd need to qualify your "can't work" phrase. I say this because I think he's absolutely right if we qualify the phrase as "can't work to protect consumer's long-term freedom." I would disagree with your characterization if you are claiming RMS thinks that only copy-left licensed software can be successful. I'm fairly sure RMS sees both Windows and Mac OS X as harmful successes.