4 ms·

I'm fairly sure that a hypothetically retired RMS would have no problem calling a restaurant, over a landline or hopefully a freedom-respecting mobile device.

I'm fairly sure that a hypothetically retired RMS would have no problem calling a restaurant, over a landline or hopefully a freedom-respecting mobile device. Also that, should he go for a drive, maybe to a folk-dancing festival, he would use GPS and maps, maybe the paper variety. As for the people inviting him to speak at a conference taking care of his scheduling and accommodation, I think that's fairly common and polite. > I wish I could have a life like that. By and large, you can. Whether you actually want to is another matter.

rhinoceraptor 7y ago
> should he go for a drive Almost every modern car has similar tracking capabilities to cell phones. And they're jam-packed full of microcontrollers running proprietary firmware, and computers running proprietary software.
- craigsmansion 7y ago
  Fair enough, but one doesn't need to have a modern car, and even if you do, one model is enough: you just buy that one.
- gmueckl 7y ago
  At least some of the microcontrollers in cars are the kind of thing that need to be extra tamper proof. There are some niche applications where safety trumps freedom. If a device has a computer in it solely for the purpose of controlling the functionality of the device's primary function, then the priorities really become different.
notyourday 7y ago
(a) he does not do it (b) it is not really possible for those whom he wants to "empower" to live like it is 1980s while maintaining life as it is needed in 2019. This is why he rubs people the wrong way when he peddles his philosophy as something that is possible in practice. Do I, a person who is pretty happy playing with computers, writing code, sometimes helping others with their technological issues or helping them to leverage technology to do something that they do more efficiently, care if my phone can't trigger Netflix playback on a Chromecast? Not at all, I will just look at one of the fifty something projects that I have in a state of a mess and work on something for fun. Will my wife have the same opinion if she can't watch "Mindhunter" because we are FSF only household and Chromecast is made by a tracking company? Yeah, now we know why his companion is a parrot.
- pessimizer 7y ago
  > (b) it is not really possible for those whom he wants to "empower" to live like it is 1980s while maintaining life as it is needed in 2019. You say that as if it is a law of nature, rather than specifically and intentionally caused by people he has made a life's work of railing against. He would rather it be effortless for you to live like he does, and spends all of his time on that problem. On what planet is that somehow hypocritical, except to the people who are his targets, and create entire business plans around preventing people from living like Stallman?
- yarrel 7y ago
  Watching Netflix via a surveillance device or watching VHS rips of old shows is a false dichotomy. rms wants people to live in 2019 but with free software. As in, with more free software, not just software from the 80s.
  - notyourday 7y ago
    > Watching Netflix via a surveillance device or watching VHS rips of old shows is a false dichotomy My wife does not care about "how" or "why". She wants to have a show from Netflix on our TV downstairs with one to two clicks. I want her to be happy because happy wife means happy life. "Free" + unhappy wife < non-"free" + happy wife. FSF's obsession with 100% "free" got us Hurd which in 2019 looks like it is from 1994.
  - spookthesunset 7y ago
    > rms wants people to live in 2019 but with free software. In order for that to work, society as we know it would need to be structured completely different. Who is going to build all this free software? How will they get paid? And before you mumble on about "you can get paid for free software", show me how it is done on the scale required to build a netflix or a facebook. Who will build a device as elegant as an iphone with free software? How will it get funded. Again, for it to work, you'd have to restructure the whole world from the ground up. That ain't gonna happen. I'm not even sure it would be desirable....
- craigsmansion 7y ago

rhinoceraptor 7y ago

> should he go for a drive Almost every modern car has similar tracking capabilities to cell phones. And they're jam-packed full of microcontrollers running proprietary firmware, and computers running proprietary software.

craigsmansion 7y ago
Fair enough, but one doesn't need to have a modern car, and even if you do, one model is enough: you just buy that one.
gmueckl 7y ago
At least some of the microcontrollers in cars are the kind of thing that need to be extra tamper proof. There are some niche applications where safety trumps freedom. If a device has a computer in it solely for the purpose of controlling the functionality of the device's primary function, then the priorities really become different.

notyourday 7y ago

(a) he does not do it (b) it is not really possible for those whom he wants to "empower" to live like it is 1980s while maintaining life as it is needed in 2019. This is why he rubs people the wrong way when he peddles his philosophy as something that is possible in practice. Do I, a person who is pretty happy playing with computers, writing code, sometimes helping others with their technological issues or helping them to leverage technology to do something that they do more efficiently, care if my phone can't trigger Netflix playback on a Chromecast? Not at all, I will just look at one of the fifty something projects that I have in a state of a mess and work on something for fun. Will my wife have the same opinion if she can't watch "Mindhunter" because we are FSF only household and Chromecast is made by a tracking company? Yeah, now we know why his companion is a parrot.

pessimizer 7y ago
> (b) it is not really possible for those whom he wants to "empower" to live like it is 1980s while maintaining life as it is needed in 2019. You say that as if it is a law of nature, rather than specifically and intentionally caused by people he has made a life's work of railing against. He would rather it be effortless for you to live like he does, and spends all of his time on that problem. On what planet is that somehow hypocritical, except to the people who are his targets, and create entire business plans around preventing people from living like Stallman?
yarrel 7y ago
Watching Netflix via a surveillance device or watching VHS rips of old shows is a false dichotomy. rms wants people to live in 2019 but with free software. As in, with more free software, not just software from the 80s.
- notyourday 7y ago
  > Watching Netflix via a surveillance device or watching VHS rips of old shows is a false dichotomy My wife does not care about "how" or "why". She wants to have a show from Netflix on our TV downstairs with one to two clicks. I want her to be happy because happy wife means happy life. "Free" + unhappy wife < non-"free" + happy wife. FSF's obsession with 100% "free" got us Hurd which in 2019 looks like it is from 1994.
- spookthesunset 7y ago
  > rms wants people to live in 2019 but with free software. In order for that to work, society as we know it would need to be structured completely different. Who is going to build all this free software? How will they get paid? And before you mumble on about "you can get paid for free software", show me how it is done on the scale required to build a netflix or a facebook. Who will build a device as elegant as an iphone with free software? How will it get funded. Again, for it to work, you'd have to restructure the whole world from the ground up. That ain't gonna happen. I'm not even sure it would be desirable....
craigsmansion 7y ago