7 ms·
FSF announces publication of two new books by Richard Stallman
- pohl 16y agoIs there a sufficiently free license under which we can modify and republish the text?
- rglullis 16y agohttp://creativecommons.org/ http://creativecommons.org/
- anonymoushn 16y agoI saw no indication in the article or at the site you linked that the books were licensed under any libre license.
- sandal 16y agoI dug around for a while looking for this as well, since it was absent from the main announcement. But the ordering page for both books allows you to download a PDF immediately, without charge. It looks like Free as in Freedom 2.0 is under the GNU Free Documentation License 1.3, and Free Software, Free Society allows verbatim copying by anyone, and translation by those who have been approved by the FSF (i.e. it is not a free documentation license) Not sure how you get at the actual manuscripts, you may need to contact FSF for that. EDIT: Here are the links to the PDFs http://www.gnu.org/doc/fsfs-ii-2.pdf http://www.gnu.org/doc/fsfs-ii-2.pdf http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/faif-2.0.pdf http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/faif-2.0.pdf
- pohl 16y agoFree Software, Free Society allows verbatim copying by anyone, and translation by those who have been approved by the FSF Thank you for sharing what you found. I can't, in good conscience, read a book that only allows modification and redistribution by those in a privileged class. Our basic liberties are under assault here!
- ekidd 16y agoTo be fair to Stallman, he has always distinguished between "functional" works, such as technical manuals and encyclopedias, and works which express a specific person's opinion. In the former case, Stallman believes that it's useful to modify works: You might want to update a technical manual for a new version of the software, or you might want to fix articles in the encyclopedia. But in the latter case, you're generally not inconvenienced by the fact that you can't edit someone's written opinions. So in these cases, Stallman tends to favor licenses which allow copying, but not modification.
- Luyt 16y agoThanks for the links, I appreciate it.
- trotsky 16y agoThis is Free as in Freedom 2.0: Richard Stallman and the Free Software Revolution, a revision of Free as in Freedom: Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free Software. Copyright 2002, 2010 Sam Williams Copyright 2010 Richard M. Stallman Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License." Say what you will about Stallman, but I've never heard anyone accuse him of not living by his principles.
- jarin 16y agoI've downloaded and converted the PDFs to .mobi so I can read them on my Kindle.
- Luyt 16y agoYou are free to convert any text to the closed eBook reading format. It'd be great if the eBook just was able to show open formats in a correct way (my Hanlin v3 is capable of that) -- it also can run OpenInkpot, a Linux for eBook readers.
- gmartres 16y agoHow is mobi more closed than pdf? It seems to be well documented: http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/MOBI http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/MOBI
- protomyth 16y agoI wouldn't exactly call mobi closed, but PDF is an ISO standard(1) and mobi is not backed by any standard organization. 1) http://www.iso.org/iso/pressrelease.htm?refid=Ref1141 http://www.iso.org/iso/pressrelease.htm?refid=Ref1141
- sandal 16y agoPDF is an ISO standard. The issue is more the DRM restrictions on the Kindle than it is the MOBI format itself.
- jonhendry 16y agoThe kindle doesn't have any DRM restrictions. Those are on the books Amazon sells. Files you obtain otherwise and put on the Kindle don't magically get DRM'd.
- sandal 16y agoThat's true (I'm actually working on an ebook generation library that does PDF, ePUB, and MOBI), but most books that most people will read on the Kindle do have that DRM. That's what I meant by DRM restrictions on the Kindle. If it sounded like I was saying that the device itself forces DRM, that's not what I meant.
- nddrylliog 16y agoLet's hope he can write better than he speaks. edit: Oh come one downvoters. Stallman has done great things, and his scriptures are as interesting as the next guy. But he should stop trying to give conferences in French (and probably conferences as a whole). See the open letter someone wrote him recently - it was spot-on.
- gwern 16y agoYour comment is maliciously intended and adds nothing to any conversation. Further, if you genuinely wondered as to whether he is a better prosodist than speaker, Stallman is a prolific author with many essays and articles available online which you could read & judge. (My own take, having read the originals of both books covered by the OP, is that Stallman is a perfectly readable writer. He will never win awards for his style, but he does not grate on the ear.)
- nddrylliog 16y agoma·li·cious /məˈliSHəs/ Adjective: Characterized by malice; intending or intended to do harm. I don't think my comment qualifies as malicious. It might be an uncomfortable truth, that he's really not that fit for public speech and that his time is better spent writing programs and literature. (Also, what does http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/prosody http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/prosody has to do with writing free software ideology? Last time I checked, he wrote in prose.)
- gwern 16y agoYour comment was not meant in a spirit of helpful critique, saying either that Stallman could work on his oratory or should optimize and spend his time writing more. I'll quote your original comment: "Let's hope he can write better than he speaks." (As for 'prosody', yes, my bad. I was misled by 'poesy' and 'prose'.)
- nddrylliog 16y agoWell, you do make a point. My original comment would've been funny to anyone having seen him give a speech in French. But it wasn't really helpful indeed. The open letter from Alexey, though was helpful http://alexeymk.com/dear-dr-stallman-the-aftermath http://alexeymk.com/dear-dr-stallman-the-aftermath - but it's not like Richie is going to listen anyway (his response was a pirouette, and not subtle at that: http://alexeymk.com/dear-dr-stallman-the-aftermath http://alexeymk.com/dear-dr-stallman-the-aftermath) Oh, also, for people downvoting me purely because I'm touching their idol, fuck you. Fanaticism is harmful and I have no sympathy for it. Of all the people you could've chosen to adore, he's really not the best choice. Some of his ideas about freedom are interesting, indeed, but the man himself is the opposite of tolerance, doesn't listen to anyone, and is generally a wreck to manage (truth be told: when he comes to give conference, he has at least one person dedicated to "managing" him. I understand celebrities have that treatment but he's unnecessarily picky about things like temperature, air flow, etc., etc. You should really see his list of conditions..) When he came to Geneva in a panel of speakers he kept interrupting everyone, eating pretty much anything while he spoke and correcting people everytime they said "closed source" instead of "proprietary"... he's done a lot of good to the software community but maybe it's just time he retires?
- sdghjkyuk 16y ago^__^hello:________( http://bloq.in/577 http://bloq.in/577 )________ Christan Audigier bikini $23 Ed Hardy Bikini $23 Smful short_t-shirt_woman $15 ed hardy short_tank_woman $16 Sandal $32 christian louboutin $80 Sunglass $15 COACH_Necklace $27 handbag $33 AF tank woman $17 puma slipper woman $30 ^__^hello:________( http://bloq.in/577 http://bloq.in/577 )________
- mleonhard 16y agoI think Richard Stallman would be more effective at getting his message across if his personal appearance was more in-line with the preferences of mainstream society.
- pnathan 16y agoYeah, man looks at the outward. Unfortunately. I suspect that RMS's message would be rejected however he dressed: it is antithetical to many/most forms of business as we know it in the US. Actually, from what I've read of RMS, I'm not even sure how he envisions successful business to operate.
- bitdiddle 16y agoI'm not sure what you mean, are you saying one can't make money using GPL software? Are you saying programmers can't charge for their labor? What message are you referring to? I see many successful businesses, for example IBM, making money hand over fist using Linux. Linux of course is "free software".
- adulau 16y agoor Maybe that why you remember him due to his personal appearance... I saw many talks in past years and I'll always remember the ones from rms but more for his message than his personal appearance.
- bitdiddle 16y agoI would find this comment shocking and insulting if weren't trotted out so often. One might argue with Stallman's ideas, but he walks the talk and he sticks to his guns.
- StudyAnimal 16y agoTwo minor points. 1. The are not really new books. Both are new editions of older books. 2. One of the books is not by Richard Stallman, it is his biography written by someone else.
- bitdiddle 16y agodefinitely, both worth reading also especially for the historical context. I found the whole section on the Symbolics machine quite interesting as I was working on one at the time and was completely unaware at what was happening at the Mit lab.
- J-L 16y agoThere's a bug in the online shop - the "add to cart" button for the first book doesn't work (second one does).