3 ms·

It may have come closer than you realise. « My first choice was to take the BSD 4.4-Lite release and make a kernel. I knew the code, I knew how to do it. It i

It may have come closer than you realise. « My first choice was to take the BSD 4.4-Lite release and make a kernel. I knew the code, I knew how to do it. It is now perfectly obvious to me that this would have succeeded splendidly and the world would be a very different place today. RMS wanted to work together with people from Berkeley on such an effort. Some of them were interested, but some seem to have been deliberately dragging their feet: and the reason now seems to be that they had the goal of spinning off BSDI. A GNU based on 4.4-Lite would undercut BSDI. So RMS said to himself, "Mach is a working kernel, 4.4-Lite is only partial, we will go with Mach." It was a decision which I strongly opposed. But ultimately it was not my decision to make, and I made the best go I could at working with Mach and doing something new from that standpoint. This was all way before Linux; we're talking 1991 or so. » http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20050727225542530 http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20050727225542530

justin66 3y ago
> Some of them were interested, but some seem to have been deliberately dragging their feet: and the reason now seems to be that they had the goal of spinning off BSDI. As a VP of the Free Software Foundation, the author of the quote you've shared is not well-positioned to recognize the reason a person might not enthusiastically cooperate with Richard Stallman: a fairly large percentage of the people who deal with him find him supremely annoying.
- lproven 3y ago
  :-) That is an entirely fair point. I've never met the man. I did consider hosting him when he was visiting London about 15 years back, and now, I wish I had done. OTOH, I do think his intransigence was integral to getting the Free Software movement off the ground.
  - rbanffy 3y ago
    > I do think his intransigence was integral to getting the Free Software movement off the ground. I'm not sure a Linux-like ecosystem would be possible on BSD licenses. With GPL, company A is free to contribute code without the fear competitor B will take it, make some improvement, and pack it with their proprietary product to undercut company A. This is an important selling point of licensing your tech as a commodity that cannot be exploited to gain a competitive edge on you. > I wish I had done. A friend of mine who hosted him says "it was an honor, but not a pleasure".
    - lproven 3y ago
      > I'm not sure a Linux-like ecosystem would be possible on BSD licenses. I think you're right. Paradoxically I suspect that this is both what keeps FreeBSD alive and also limits it. > A friend of mine who hosted him says "it was an honor, but not a pleasure". :-D That's good. I like it.

justin66 3y ago

> Some of them were interested, but some seem to have been deliberately dragging their feet: and the reason now seems to be that they had the goal of spinning off BSDI. As a VP of the Free Software Foundation, the author of the quote you've shared is not well-positioned to recognize the reason a person might not enthusiastically cooperate with Richard Stallman: a fairly large percentage of the people who deal with him find him supremely annoying.

lproven 3y ago
:-) That is an entirely fair point. I've never met the man. I did consider hosting him when he was visiting London about 15 years back, and now, I wish I had done. OTOH, I do think his intransigence was integral to getting the Free Software movement off the ground.
- rbanffy 3y ago
  > I do think his intransigence was integral to getting the Free Software movement off the ground. I'm not sure a Linux-like ecosystem would be possible on BSD licenses. With GPL, company A is free to contribute code without the fear competitor B will take it, make some improvement, and pack it with their proprietary product to undercut company A. This is an important selling point of licensing your tech as a commodity that cannot be exploited to gain a competitive edge on you. > I wish I had done. A friend of mine who hosted him says "it was an honor, but not a pleasure".
  - lproven 3y ago
    > I'm not sure a Linux-like ecosystem would be possible on BSD licenses. I think you're right. Paradoxically I suspect that this is both what keeps FreeBSD alive and also limits it. > A friend of mine who hosted him says "it was an honor, but not a pleasure". :-D That's good. I like it.