4 ms·

I hope these videos will live on for many years to come. Absolutely amazing and rich oral history of many things we take for granted in our daily lives.

mattl 8y ago
Me too. I’m in a couple of them and a lot of people have told me they found them enjoyable and learned more about free software as a result.
curiousgal 8y ago
>many things we take for granted in our daily lives. The entitlement we live in nowadays vis à vis technology continues to blow my mind, from some condescending attitudes towards free software that forms the building block of a myriad of products to the "disappointment" some consumers express when a new released chip isn't twice as fast as the old iteration. There's a lot going on behind the scene and even by saying so I am underestimating just how much our civilisation has put in effort into the things that we use on a daily basis and pay to attention to.
- User23 8y ago
  This is why I get mad when people piss on RMS. No need to dwell on his defects, he has served our community immeasurably.
  - krapp 8y ago
    If you're talking about people making fun of his weight or appearance or other strange behaviors, then I agree. But RMS didn't descend from Mount Sinai with the Four Freedoms carved into stone by the finger of God or anything. He's just a man with an opinion, and his ideas are not above criticism regardless of what he's done for the community.
    - mattl 8y ago
      No. But he did live in a community of sharing that was destroyed by proprietary software and he has spent 45 years developing free software. So many should pay his ideas more respect than they do because they like to make it about his person life.
      - User23 8y ago
        Wholeheartedly agree! This entire thing we have going wouldn't be possible without the GNU project. And GNU would never have happened without RMS. The man is a giant. A giant with huge glaring flaws, but every single one of us that did anything with unix-like OSes in the past 30 years owes the man. Sadly I fear that much like Peirce, Stallman will be forgotten by history because of the acumen of his primary detractors.
        bkul_ 8y ago
        I doubt Stallman will be forgotten, but I'm worried he'll be remembered more as a Cassandra than a great contributor.
        ezequiel-garzon 8y ago
        Wouldn’t the BSDs have happened sooner or later without GNU, and without Linus? I’m grateful for the contributions of both men (who by the way have expressed quite different ideological stances), but I still think it’s an interesting question. Edit: grammar.
        mattl 8y ago
        Maybe yes. But BSD was encumbered by the AT&T nonsense for approximately a third of the free software community’s history. That’s a long time to sit around and do nothing.
      - type0 8y ago
        > But he did live in a community of sharing that was destroyed by proprietary software ... Outside software industry and computer enthusiasts no one has even heard of RMS. As for Gatesian Basic conundrum [0] of the past he could as well been forgotten if not for emergence of Linux, maybe he should be lucky be called the father of open source although I understand that he considers it to be an insult. The common Windows10 user might be okay in having no control over their computing and merely licencing their OS [1], but I would argue that's because they don't comprehend what they're agreeing on. It's sad that computer literacy is that astonishingly low. Agreeing to some entity to have the ultimate power of your computing environment is like having to agree to someone else to have the power over the fabric of your though processes. We're still in the digital middle ages, feudal society where MS, FB, Google have the final say in the spheres of their domination exactly like the churches or kings would decide over their people. [0]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Letter_to_Hobbyists https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Letter_to_Hobbyists [1]. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Useterms/Retail/Windows/10/UseTerms_Retail_Windows_10_English.htm https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Useterms/Retail/Windows/10/U...
Waterluvian 8y ago
I could listen to Prof. Brailsford tell stories for ages. Oral tradition really gives these stories character and context.

mattl 8y ago

Me too. I’m in a couple of them and a lot of people have told me they found them enjoyable and learned more about free software as a result.

curiousgal 8y ago

>many things we take for granted in our daily lives. The entitlement we live in nowadays vis à vis technology continues to blow my mind, from some condescending attitudes towards free software that forms the building block of a myriad of products to the "disappointment" some consumers express when a new released chip isn't twice as fast as the old iteration. There's a lot going on behind the scene and even by saying so I am underestimating just how much our civilisation has put in effort into the things that we use on a daily basis and pay to attention to.

User23 8y ago
This is why I get mad when people piss on RMS. No need to dwell on his defects, he has served our community immeasurably.
- krapp 8y ago
  If you're talking about people making fun of his weight or appearance or other strange behaviors, then I agree. But RMS didn't descend from Mount Sinai with the Four Freedoms carved into stone by the finger of God or anything. He's just a man with an opinion, and his ideas are not above criticism regardless of what he's done for the community.
  - mattl 8y ago
    No. But he did live in a community of sharing that was destroyed by proprietary software and he has spent 45 years developing free software. So many should pay his ideas more respect than they do because they like to make it about his person life.
    - User23 8y ago
      Wholeheartedly agree! This entire thing we have going wouldn't be possible without the GNU project. And GNU would never have happened without RMS. The man is a giant. A giant with huge glaring flaws, but every single one of us that did anything with unix-like OSes in the past 30 years owes the man. Sadly I fear that much like Peirce, Stallman will be forgotten by history because of the acumen of his primary detractors.
      - bkul_ 8y ago
        I doubt Stallman will be forgotten, but I'm worried he'll be remembered more as a Cassandra than a great contributor.
      - ezequiel-garzon 8y ago
        Wouldn’t the BSDs have happened sooner or later without GNU, and without Linus? I’m grateful for the contributions of both men (who by the way have expressed quite different ideological stances), but I still think it’s an interesting question. Edit: grammar.
        mattl 8y ago
        Maybe yes. But BSD was encumbered by the AT&T nonsense for approximately a third of the free software community’s history. That’s a long time to sit around and do nothing.
    - type0 8y ago
      > But he did live in a community of sharing that was destroyed by proprietary software ... Outside software industry and computer enthusiasts no one has even heard of RMS. As for Gatesian Basic conundrum [0] of the past he could as well been forgotten if not for emergence of Linux, maybe he should be lucky be called the father of open source although I understand that he considers it to be an insult. The common Windows10 user might be okay in having no control over their computing and merely licencing their OS [1], but I would argue that's because they don't comprehend what they're agreeing on. It's sad that computer literacy is that astonishingly low. Agreeing to some entity to have the ultimate power of your computing environment is like having to agree to someone else to have the power over the fabric of your though processes. We're still in the digital middle ages, feudal society where MS, FB, Google have the final say in the spheres of their domination exactly like the churches or kings would decide over their people. [0]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Letter_to_Hobbyists https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Letter_to_Hobbyists [1]. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Useterms/Retail/Windows/10/UseTerms_Retail_Windows_10_English.htm https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Useterms/Retail/Windows/10/U...

Waterluvian 8y ago

I could listen to Prof. Brailsford tell stories for ages. Oral tradition really gives these stories character and context.