3 ms·

Is it really? RMS doesn't appear to have a problem reaching as broad of an audience as is willing to listen to him, and afaik he does not compromise his princip

by 794CD01 10y ago

Is it really? RMS doesn't appear to have a problem reaching as broad of an audience as is willing to listen to him, and afaik he does not compromise his principles by using non-free software.

the_greyd 10y ago
I disagree with the statement. But let me make this clear, I think RMS is great, and plays a very important role in todays society. He has an exceptional devotion to his ideology, but seen from a normal person's eyes, he is an extremist. For this normal person,(and the masses in general) abstaining from propriety services is not the solution. You cannot expect everybody to just install Linux and start using FOSS alternatives (as things are now). The barrier to entry is too high. The end result is that we are trapped in our own bubbles, preaching to only those who already agree with us. Ideological purity goes on to alienate people. The new generation of computer scientists, developers are not exposed to these ideas, because they are not as accessible. They are using facebook, slack and medium, and we refrain to use those. These are tradeoffs, and clearly, there is needs to be a balance.
- 794CD01 10y ago
  And by tradeoff, you mean you are giving your usage, which is all these platforms really want from you, and in exchange, you get the ability to reach an audience who is not interested in the ideology you're preaching. Is that accurate?
  - the_greyd 10y ago
    > "audience who is not interested", I wouldn't frame it like that, but yes. So we may disagree and that's okay, and I maybe wrong. Just to throw my 2 cents, I have tried sticking to some ideologies, after some time, it seems self-absorbed intellectual masturbation, where your end goal, to make a change in the world is untouched. The philosophy of "Utilitarianism" comes to mind, where basically the ends justify the means (this again can be taken to an extreme which I don't advocate).
jedikv 10y ago
RMS also has had many years to build up a notable reputation where he doesn't need to.

by 794CD01 10y ago

Is it really? RMS doesn't appear to have a problem reaching as broad of an audience as is willing to listen to him, and afaik he does not compromise his principles by using non-free software.

the_greyd 10y ago

I disagree with the statement. But let me make this clear, I think RMS is great, and plays a very important role in todays society. He has an exceptional devotion to his ideology, but seen from a normal person's eyes, he is an extremist. For this normal person,(and the masses in general) abstaining from propriety services is not the solution. You cannot expect everybody to just install Linux and start using FOSS alternatives (as things are now). The barrier to entry is too high. The end result is that we are trapped in our own bubbles, preaching to only those who already agree with us. Ideological purity goes on to alienate people. The new generation of computer scientists, developers are not exposed to these ideas, because they are not as accessible. They are using facebook, slack and medium, and we refrain to use those. These are tradeoffs, and clearly, there is needs to be a balance.

794CD01 10y ago
And by tradeoff, you mean you are giving your usage, which is all these platforms really want from you, and in exchange, you get the ability to reach an audience who is not interested in the ideology you're preaching. Is that accurate?
- the_greyd 10y ago
  > "audience who is not interested", I wouldn't frame it like that, but yes. So we may disagree and that's okay, and I maybe wrong. Just to throw my 2 cents, I have tried sticking to some ideologies, after some time, it seems self-absorbed intellectual masturbation, where your end goal, to make a change in the world is untouched. The philosophy of "Utilitarianism" comes to mind, where basically the ends justify the means (this again can be taken to an extreme which I don't advocate).

jedikv 10y ago

RMS also has had many years to build up a notable reputation where he doesn't need to.