4 ms·

Stallman is one of those people I regarded as a rambling idiot when I was (very much) younger and as I grew older I've started considering him a genius that act

Stallman is one of those people I regarded as a rambling idiot when I was (very much) younger and as I grew older I've started considering him a genius that actually made our world a (slightly) better place.

SirFatty 9y ago
Stallman is one of those people that avoid water as not to accidentally take a bath.
- dang 9y ago
  Would you please not post like this here? https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html
  - SirFatty 9y ago
    Oh shut up.
satysin 9y ago
RMS is eccentric and a radical but he is a man of his principles and hasn't sold out. I have always respected his message and greatly appreciated his work. Like you my views have changed as I got older. I am now 33 and wish I had got involved with some of the projects I care very much for when I was younger.
Jedd 9y ago
When I was 19, I heard this line from a friend of mine at college: "You know, when I was 18, I thought my father was pretty dumb. After a while, when I got to be 21, I was amazed to find out how much he’d learned in three years." (Aside, the original author is hard to pin down - consider [1] - but the delight, of course, is that it's such a timeless observation that rewards the listener who can simply survive long enough to appreciate it.) I first met rms on a rare visit of his to Sydney AU back in the early 1990's, I saw him again at a talk in London in 2011, and then at FOSDEM in 2013. His position really hasn't changed much in that time - some people suggest this is a weakness, but perhaps it's indicative of his prescience in understanding what the long term concerns (threats?) for IT were going to be. That people are increasingly siding, or at least empathising, with his message is actually pretty encouraging, even if you ignore the likely outcomes. [1] http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/10/10/twain-father/ http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/10/10/twain-father/
phjesusthatguy3 9y ago
More than slightly. Linux only had somewhere to grow because GNU was in place. RMS may be a kook to the wider world, but goddamn if he wasn't right, right from the start.
tyingq 9y ago
Is there anyone obviously poised to be his replacement when he isn't available anymore? Not in a strict organizational sense, but someone who could have similar influence.

SirFatty 9y ago

Stallman is one of those people that avoid water as not to accidentally take a bath.

dang 9y ago
Would you please not post like this here? https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html
- SirFatty 9y ago
  Oh shut up.

satysin 9y ago

RMS is eccentric and a radical but he is a man of his principles and hasn't sold out. I have always respected his message and greatly appreciated his work. Like you my views have changed as I got older. I am now 33 and wish I had got involved with some of the projects I care very much for when I was younger.

Jedd 9y ago

When I was 19, I heard this line from a friend of mine at college: "You know, when I was 18, I thought my father was pretty dumb. After a while, when I got to be 21, I was amazed to find out how much he’d learned in three years." (Aside, the original author is hard to pin down - consider [1] - but the delight, of course, is that it's such a timeless observation that rewards the listener who can simply survive long enough to appreciate it.) I first met rms on a rare visit of his to Sydney AU back in the early 1990's, I saw him again at a talk in London in 2011, and then at FOSDEM in 2013. His position really hasn't changed much in that time - some people suggest this is a weakness, but perhaps it's indicative of his prescience in understanding what the long term concerns (threats?) for IT were going to be. That people are increasingly siding, or at least empathising, with his message is actually pretty encouraging, even if you ignore the likely outcomes. [1] http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/10/10/twain-father/ http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/10/10/twain-father/

phjesusthatguy3 9y ago

More than slightly. Linux only had somewhere to grow because GNU was in place. RMS may be a kook to the wider world, but goddamn if he wasn't right, right from the start.

tyingq 9y ago

Is there anyone obviously poised to be his replacement when he isn't available anymore? Not in a strict organizational sense, but someone who could have similar influence.