Most of the time, the great visionaries don't make effective leaders. There are exceptions (Jobs, famously---not that he was perfect, but he was capable in that

Most of the time, the great visionaries don't make effective leaders. There are exceptions (Jobs, famously---not that he was perfect, but he was capable in that role, charismatic, and visionary). We all owe RMS a lot. He had a principled vision, stuck to it, and did an enormous amount of work to advance it. But it's pretty obvious that there are two big problems: 1) he's just not a charismatic leader in any way; and 2) like many people, he is not capable of growing/changing his mind. The FOSS world is different now. We have different challenges and operate in a different environment. That environment is also far more complex, and complex environments are less amenable to the kinds of no-compromise approach that can work in smaller, nascent communities. To Stevie's point, it's hard to take a guy seriously who is using decade-old hardware without WiFi because of "principles." It's a bit like refusing to wear pants because purchasing clothes cuts against your anticapitalist ethos. To some extent, you need to work within the system to reform it. IMO, FSF needs to set _an example_. We are not going to get people excited about FOSS with nitpicky Usenet-style debates about verbiage and ancient hardware and excommunicating people who dare use an iPhone. Also, their website desperately needs a redesign. It looks like it's from 1998.