4 ms·

Contrary to what you seem imply, this is not some sort of vindication for Microsoft. Anyone can invite rms to speak, and given some minor conditions, he will c

Contrary to what you seem imply, this is not some sort of vindication for Microsoft. Anyone can invite rms to speak, and given some minor conditions, he will come. He will come and talk because he believes that everyone deserves Free Software. This is not monumental in any sort of "MS and the FSF coming closer together" sense. It was very nice of Microsoft to invite him though, but not more impressive than, say, a University or hackfest.

jaboutboul 7y ago
It’s not a vindication of anything other than the free software movement and philosophy and how its permeated everywhere. It is more impressive than speaking at another venue because this just shows how open minded they’ve become now and I give them great credit for that if not anything else. Satya’s created such a seismic shift in mindset there in such a short time.
- de_watcher 7y ago
  No, no shifts in MS or in Satya. It's just Google's web who ate the world. And the move to smartphones.
Fnoord 7y ago
> Anyone can invite rms to speak, and given some minor conditions, he will come. He will come and talk because he believes that everyone deserves Free Software. Oh? Here [1] he wrote this: > I am selective about the events I participate in. If you are inviting me to speak at a larger event, please inform me now of the overall nature of the event, so I can make an informed decision about whether to participate. Mr Stallman was at Microsoft Research, btw. It is a specific department of Microsoft. [1] https://groups.google.com/a/mysociety.org/forum/m/#!msg/mysociety-community/zkyZpOXjgoQ/_8xyXSxv9zYJ https://groups.google.com/a/mysociety.org/forum/m/#!msg/myso...
- tannhaeuser 7y ago
  RMS used to publish academically when he was at MIT. I remember reading a paper about Prolog backjumping written by him which had nothing to do with software licensing.
  - markjenkinswpg 7y ago
    That was before anyone did permissive licensing and at a time when it wasn't even clear if software was copywritable.

jaboutboul 7y ago

It’s not a vindication of anything other than the free software movement and philosophy and how its permeated everywhere. It is more impressive than speaking at another venue because this just shows how open minded they’ve become now and I give them great credit for that if not anything else. Satya’s created such a seismic shift in mindset there in such a short time.

de_watcher 7y ago
No, no shifts in MS or in Satya. It's just Google's web who ate the world. And the move to smartphones.

Fnoord 7y ago

> Anyone can invite rms to speak, and given some minor conditions, he will come. He will come and talk because he believes that everyone deserves Free Software. Oh? Here [1] he wrote this: > I am selective about the events I participate in. If you are inviting me to speak at a larger event, please inform me now of the overall nature of the event, so I can make an informed decision about whether to participate. Mr Stallman was at Microsoft Research, btw. It is a specific department of Microsoft. [1] https://groups.google.com/a/mysociety.org/forum/m/#!msg/mysociety-community/zkyZpOXjgoQ/_8xyXSxv9zYJ https://groups.google.com/a/mysociety.org/forum/m/#!msg/myso...

tannhaeuser 7y ago
RMS used to publish academically when he was at MIT. I remember reading a paper about Prolog backjumping written by him which had nothing to do with software licensing.
- markjenkinswpg 7y ago
  That was before anyone did permissive licensing and at a time when it wasn't even clear if software was copywritable.