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Regardless of whether it was right to ditch Stallman as the president of the FSF, here's my "wishlist" for his successor (in case they don't revert it): - Some

Regardless of whether it was right to ditch Stallman as the president of the FSF, here's my "wishlist" for his successor (in case they don't revert it): - Someone who is less of a hardliner: Stallman's dedication to free software is a good thing but his absolutist style of expressing it might have put a lot of people off who would otherwise not be opposed to the idea of free software - Someone who understands the problems of free/open source software (contributors not getting paid, corporate exploitation, ...) and has progressive solutions for it - Someone who everyone can (at least kinda) sympathize with and/or relate to: I believe Stallman generally has no bad intent but a lot of his mannerisms are just plain awkward or offensive to a lot of people. Normally that wouldn't matter but the president of the FSF (especially Stallman) is kinda "the face of free software". So showing that the world of free software is a progressive and inclusive space here might just benefit everyone. We should still honor Stallman for what he did for free software (I mean he basically invented it) and we should IMO continue to welcome him in this space (maybe even as some kind of executive in the FSF because after all he's obviously not incompetent). But maybe he isn't the best person for the role of the president anymore these days.

tombert 7y ago
I agree with your second two points 100%, though not with the first at all. I think that Stallman's hardliner stance, while it has scared away a lot of people, has also been a good thing in a lot of regards; if nothing else, it shows that there is a position to be had in the extreme copyleft.
- t0astbread 7y ago
  Understandable. My line of thought was that free software could, in some places where it's not big yet, win in the long term if the FSF stopped judging devs/makers of non-free software. (And instead maybe acknowledged that it's hard to develop free software in that field under the current circumstances to raise awareness.)
  - tombert 7y ago
    In a bit of fairness, I actually emailed Stallman about this a couple years ago and he's a bit more nuanced if you press him on individual things. For example, I asked him about an app that I was working on, where we were doing things with a BSD license (since the thing we released was proprietary but the core was open-source), and he suggested that we instead re-license it as GPL but with an proprietary exception for only our app.
    - t0astbread 7y ago
      Oh, that's cool! I'm working on a thesis project right now and we might actually run into the same situation.
JaumeGreen 7y ago
> Someone who is less of a hardliner: [...] his absolutist style of expressing it might have put a lot of people off I think this is two different issues. I wouldn't mind a softer talker, but I would prefer for that person to be a hardliner and someone who would open our minds to alternatives in the openess direction. There are too many "money talks"/"free market solves it all" people in the world, if the front-person of FSF is a mediator then it will grow in that direction, instead of making the world see more spectrum.
- t0astbread 7y ago
  That might be a better way to put it

tombert 7y ago

I agree with your second two points 100%, though not with the first at all. I think that Stallman's hardliner stance, while it has scared away a lot of people, has also been a good thing in a lot of regards; if nothing else, it shows that there is a position to be had in the extreme copyleft.

t0astbread 7y ago
Understandable. My line of thought was that free software could, in some places where it's not big yet, win in the long term if the FSF stopped judging devs/makers of non-free software. (And instead maybe acknowledged that it's hard to develop free software in that field under the current circumstances to raise awareness.)
- tombert 7y ago
  In a bit of fairness, I actually emailed Stallman about this a couple years ago and he's a bit more nuanced if you press him on individual things. For example, I asked him about an app that I was working on, where we were doing things with a BSD license (since the thing we released was proprietary but the core was open-source), and he suggested that we instead re-license it as GPL but with an proprietary exception for only our app.
  - t0astbread 7y ago
    Oh, that's cool! I'm working on a thesis project right now and we might actually run into the same situation.

JaumeGreen 7y ago

> Someone who is less of a hardliner: [...] his absolutist style of expressing it might have put a lot of people off I think this is two different issues. I wouldn't mind a softer talker, but I would prefer for that person to be a hardliner and someone who would open our minds to alternatives in the openess direction. There are too many "money talks"/"free market solves it all" people in the world, if the front-person of FSF is a mediator then it will grow in that direction, instead of making the world see more spectrum.

t0astbread 7y ago
That might be a better way to put it