8 ms·
"When dealing with RMS, keep the following things in mind"
- djacobs 16y agoHe doesn't have web access? Really? I don't think I understand.
- mhd 16y agoFrom a post from 2007[1]: For personal reasons, I do not browse the web from my computer. (I also have not net connection much of the time.) To look at page I send mail to a demon which runs wget and mails the page back to me. It is very efficient use of my time, but it is slow in real time. [1]: http://article.gmane.org/gmane.os.openbsd.misc/134979 http://article.gmane.org/gmane.os.openbsd.misc/134979
- JeremyStein 16y agoThis is often quoted, but I suspect it's no longer true. When I referred him to an online article last year, he immediately replied about it. I bet he has access to a web browser when needed.
- djacobs 16y agoInteresting, I'd never come across that quote before today. Anyone have any idea why he doesn't like the WWW? Is he still on Gopher?
- mhd 16y agoThat piece of news was widely circulated back then, if I remember correctly it even spawned a few RMS == Chuck Norris posts. In a more recent article[1], Stallman voices his opposition to web-based SaaS applications, as they take away your basic ownership of the data stored there, limiting your freedom etc. I can understand him in this regard. I'm not that idealistic and love the convenience of some web apps, so right now that wins in the end. I think that's one of the reasons why a lot of people seem to be annoyed of RMS – we never like to be shown that we maybe compromise a bit too much. But I digress… So you don't like webapps. You do most of your discussions in usenet or email lists (this might sound sacrilegious here, but we I don't think reddit/HN/4chan is a step up from moderated newsgroups). You can just download news, either via the above-mentioned wget trick or via RSS. That does eliminate most of your web-browsing needs, or am I missing something really important? Especially if you live in Emacs, an don't care too much about rounded corners, gradients and typographical text. He's basically like the guy you know who tells you that he doesn't watch TV and rather reads a book. You tell him that there's quality programming and you read enough books, too, but then you remember this conversation and feel kinda guilty while watching Castle. [1]: http://bostonreview.net/BR35.2/stallman.php http://bostonreview.net/BR35.2/stallman.php
- djacobs 16y agoI kindof get that. But SaaS != WWW. What's more, some SaaS supports data portability--as of yesterday, even Facebook does this! So I can't really understand the concern, at least framed this way. The web as a timesuck is I guess a good argument, but limiting yourself to checking e-mail surely won't harness any inclination people have to read news or watch media. Right?
- masklinn 16y agoTo complete mhd's comment, at the same time (don't know if it is still how he works) he would only connect to the web once every 24h, batch fetching and sending mail (including the pages fetched by his daemon). This meant a ~36h turnaround for his responses (average): he'd get your mail ~12h (average) after you sent it and would only (be able to) send the reply 24h after that.
- krelian 16y agoHe has very very little time, so his answers may seem impolite at times. I always hear this but what is it exactly that he is doing that keeps him so busy?
- omouse 16y agoLiving and enjoying life?
- Marwy 16y agoI guess he travels a lot (conferences etc.). Of course one could respond to emails while flying a plane, but, you know, it's rms.
- hugh3 16y agoAnswering all these emails, apparently.
- jessriedel 16y agoThis is such a bad excuse. Being polite requires extremely little time, and it's a requirement for interacting with humans. In my experience, autistic-ish people (often geeks or nerds) sometimes confuse being polite with being social, which does take time. They then seem to think that if they don't have time (or really, the skill and desire) to be social, then they don't have to be polite. This is a minority of geeks and nerds, of course.
- sprout 16y agoBeing polite takes very little time. Knowing what constitutes politeness takes a lifetime of study for some people, and when you travel as much as RMS does, that's a lifetime of study for anyone, autistic or no. Can you navigate social norms in every country he's been to (and worked in?) You're really oversimplifying.
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- sriramk 16y agoI know RMS is a special case but it annoys me when people say/act as if they're too busy to properly respond. One of my favorite people in Microsoft is Ray Ozzie. Every single time I've mailed him, I've gotten a long, thoughtful reply. He is probably the best email handler I've seen. BillG is pretty good at email and sending you prompt replies.
- jpablo 16y agoI'll say giving a thoughtful reply to every random person that emails you is not really the best use of time. Sure, it's great for you to get an answer and kudoz for the people who really have the time to do that.
- xenophanes 16y agoIt depends on the type of email. In general, when I give people thoughtful replies I learn something. But I can see this wouldn't be true for some categories of email.
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- masklinn 16y ago> I know RMS is a special case but it annoys me when people say/act as if they're too busy to properly respond. As far as I know, RMS does properly respond. He simply tends to be as terse as possible. Some people mistake it for rudeness.
- mhd 16y agoReminded me of this old Jamie Zawinski joke: http://www.jwz.org/hacks/why-cooperation-with-rms-is-impossible.mp3 http://www.jwz.org/hacks/why-cooperation-with-rms-is-impossi... (ObOld: I remember the time when it was why-cooperation-with-rms-is-impossible.au, not .mp3)
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- luigi 16y agoThe applause he gets at the end of that "song" makes listening to the whole thing worth it.
- gaius 16y agoThey forgot "his ideas about software economics only make sense if you have a $1M grant from the MacArthur foundation and tenure at MIT".
- m0th87 16y agoHis ideas seem to be scaling pretty well. The GNU ecosystem is as big as ever.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- gaius 16y ago... Thanks to IBM.
- spinchange 16y agoSeems like you're having it both ways: Do his ideas only make economic sense because he's an academic grant recipient or because one of the largest commercial technology companies on earth has embraced the output of his work, helping foster an ecosystem around it?
- gaius 16y agoThere's free as in speech, free as in beer, and free as in working for IBM without getting paid.
- wingo 16y agoHum, they must have my bank details wrong.
- kroger 16y agoFor those who don't know, wingo is one of the maintainers of guile. (hence his joke ;-)
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- eru 16y agoRMS is a bunny ears laywer (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BunnyEarsLawyer http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BunnyEarsLawyer).
- 8ren 16y agotvtropes is NSFWorking. Tangent: I disagree with Jack Sparrow being Crazy Awesome. He succeeds by the Rule of Cool, but I can't think of an instance where his craziness made him succeed (though that may be just because I'm very tired right now.) eg. at the start of PotC, he looks completely freaked as he flies up to escape from the pier. Or is the fact that he even tried it Crazy Awesome? Great movie, anyway.
- eru 16y agoI guess it's the new rickrolling.
- kleiba 16y agoI don't know how many of you guys have ever actually contacted RMS, but whenever I did, his answers were quick, polite and to the point. Anecdotal, I know...
- abrahamsen 16y agoThat is my experience as well, but the "to the point" part took a bit getting used to.
- tjr 16y agoIn 1998 I wrote some documentation and offered it to the GNU Project. To my surprise, I got a reply back from Richard directly. He was very pleased that someone had written such documentation and offered it to them. (I remember him using the word "Hooray!") However, in retrospect, what I wrote was pretty poorly written. It was my first major attempt at documentation, and Richard critiqued it heavily. I felt very hurt, but he was probably kinder than he needed to be given the low quality of my work, and, more importantly, he was correct. Once I got past feeling hurt, I learned a lot from his critiques. I essentially got free training in technical writing from Richard, and I look back on that as one of the more awesome moments in my life in software.
- pavel_lishin 16y agoI'm sure it depends on the topic of conversation, your stance on said topic, etc., etc., too.
- jerf 16y agoThis is somehow different than other people?
- Xipe 16y agoAt least he's not hyperbolic on his blog. "Teaching children to use a proprietary (non-free) system such as Windows does not make the world a better place, because it puts them under the power of the system's developer -- perhaps permanently. You might as well introduce the children to an addictive drug."
- cromulent 16y agoHe is a fascinating creature. Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like to be alive at the same time as various historical characters. With him, I think I am. I believe history will treat him kindly, regardless of his idiosyncrasies.
- brendoncrawford 16y agoKeep in mind that RMS' email policy should not be confused with his face-to-face conversational style. I ran into him at a train station in Milan, and completely commandeered his time and attention for a good 30 minutes, despite the fact that he had a train to catch. He politely answered all of my questions, and he even responded to my criticisms with civility and respect. If you ever get him in a casual, face-to-face conversation, you will find that he actually comes across as quite meek and restrained, rather than the arrogant blow-hard that he is generally portrayed to be.
- jff 16y agoIt may also be that face-to-face, he realizes it's a lot easier for someone to haul off and smack a hippie than it is via the Internet. On the other hand, I think just about everyone comes across a lot friendlier in person, merely because it's easier to portray interest and friendliness than over email.
- atari 16y agoHas anyone else gotten unsolicited emails from RMS when you inadvertently use one of his "words to avoid" on a mailing list or the like? http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html It's kinda fun.
- bluesnowmonkey 16y agoLots of famous and busy people manage to be approachable without needing you to read a wiki page first. In fact it's really pompous to tell others they need to follow special guidelines because you're so busy, as if the rest of us sit around all day.