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I've come to accept the fact that Stallman is just going to be Stallman. Both his virtues and his faults are magnified in person. His brain seems to be wired u
by ekidd 10y ago
I've come to accept the fact that Stallman is just going to be Stallman. Both his virtues and his faults are magnified in person.
His brain seems to be wired up differently: He's frustrating, he's terrible at people skills, and he'd walk 10 miles out his way to avoid bending a minor ethical principle. Even when I disagree with one of his ethical principles, I do admire him for being committed to what he believes. I suspect he could have made a very profitable business off of GCC in the 80s—it was a remarkably good compiler for several chips back in the day—but he preferred to focus on writing more free software.
I've spoken with FSF staff in the past, and their attitude towards Stallman often seems to combine admiration and frustration. They work with him regularly, and most of them are fairly typical free software developers. They generally seem to believe that world has room for somebody like Stallman, who's horrible at PR but who takes principled stands.
- Biganon 10y agoDoesn't he simply have Asperger's?
- noir_lord 10y ago> They generally seem to believe that world has room for somebody like Stallman, who's horrible at PR but who takes principled stands. We need more people like that not less unfortunately they often get creamed by the people who are unwilling to take a stand but pretty good at PR. In the realm of politics you can see that happening now in the UK with Jeremy Corbyn (principled even if you disagree with his politics) and the way the press treats him.
- pmyjavec 10y agoTotally agree, he is a man or principles with genuine concern for others, when he speaks, others listen. More of his caliber.
- Melk 10y agoI consider Elon Musk of a similar caliber but it's interesting to see how different both of them are portrayed: Stallman is weird, frustrating, and an Aspie, and Musk is eccentric, ambitious and a legend. (All real quotes from HN). The difference of course is that one is the father of the free software movement and the other is a billionaire.
- RodericDay 10y agoOh man I totally disagree with this. Elon Musk has almost "manifest destiny" ideas about the inherent goodness of America. He talks about the virtues of unfettered capitalism while his lobbyists keep India from playing in American satellite markets. He donated to Marco Rubio as well as to democrat candidates. I don't think Musk is particularly principled. We're just lucky that he thinks rockets and alternative energy are cool.
- chc 10y agoJust because he subscribes to a different ideology doesn't mean he isn't also very principled. I mean, his "manifest destiny" ideas (as you put it) led him to give his competitors open access to Tesla's patents.
- hrjet 10y agoThe parent poster gave an example of hypocritical behavior: > He talks about the virtues of unfettered capitalism while his lobbyists keep India from playing in American satellite markets.
- hammock 10y agoTheir principles are just different, man.
- GirlsCanCode 10y agoNonsense. He gladly gets in bed with terrorists, for example.
- amelius 10y ago> I suspect he could have made a very profitable business off of GCC in the 80s—it was a remarkably good compiler for several chips back in the day—but he preferred to focus on writing more free software. The irony is that if he had made a business out of it, he could have had much more influence.
- greglindahl 10y agoNo need to speculate: Cygnus did make a business out of it.
- adzm 10y ago> I could have made money this way, and perhaps amused myself writing code. But I knew that at the end of my career, I would look back on years of building walls to divide people, and feel I had spent my life making the world a worse place. One of my favorite RMS quotes. We need people like him to fill out the spectrum.
- Frondo 10y agoYeah, but you know, everyone needs an editor. Anyone who writes stuff should run it by another set of eyes. Every single piece Stallman writes would be stronger if someone would say "take out the Goober bit" or "take out the Swindle" bit or whatever other goofy names he comes up with. This 4th grade stuff just weakens his essays. It isn't good, it doesn't need to be there. All it tells me is that he's not running his stuff by anyone who'll challenge him to make his writing stronger.