Why doesn't RMS get the love he deserves?

[Icehuck]

most of it.


Anything in particluar ?

How about when he said,


"It doesn't take special talents to reproduce, even plants can do it. On the other hand, contributing to a program like Emacs takes real skill. That is really something to be proud of.

It helps more people, too."

Or when he said,

"These birth announcements also spread the myth that having a baby is something to be proud of, which fuels natalist pressure, which leads to pollution, extinction of wildlife, poverty, and ultimately mass starvation"

This was all on the emacs list.

[Katalog]

I think one of the reasons that RMS doesn't get that much love is because when he makes requests, they often come off sounding more like demands, and that gives a lot of people the impression that the guy is basically a tool. You have to admit that although he has done a tremendous amount of work in pushing the free software movement forward, he is a bit radical and people who are considered radicals are quite often very controversial figures, and as a result they don't "get the love they deserve".

As far as the whole GNU/Linux controversy goes, the story I've seen quoted most often comes from Mr. Torvalds himself, who says that it was put forth by RMS that Linux should be called GNU/Linux due to the fact that Linus used GNU tools to help build Linux, therefore in RMS opinion, no GNU gcc compiler (for example) = no Linux, so he believes that GNU should get credit for it's existence by being included in it's name. I'm sure Andrew Tannenbaum could make similar claims (and arguably with even more justification than RMS) if he were so inclined since Linux was intitially modelled after Minix to a large degree, but instead he has chosen to be more magnanimous than Mr Stallman and just let it be, so to speak. Which, now that I think about it, is probably more in keeping with the generous spirit of free software than RMS desire for recognition.

[chriskin]

I think one of the reasons that RMS doesn't get that much love is because when he makes requests, they often come off sounding more like demands, and that gives a lot of people the impression that the guy is basically a tool. You have to admit that although he has done a tremendous amount of work in pushing the free software movement forward, he is a bit radical and people who are considered radicals are quite often very controversial figures, and as a result they don't "get the love they deserve".

As far as the whole GNU/Linux controversy goes, the story I've seen quoted most often comes from Mr. Torvalds himself, who says that it was put forth by RMS that Linux should be called GNU/Linux due to the fact that Linus used GNU tools to help build Linux, therefore in RMS opinion, no GNU gcc compiler (for example) = no Linux, so he believes that GNU should get credit for it's existence by being included in it's name. I'm sure Andrew Tannenbaum could make similar claims (and arguably with even more justification than RMS) if he were so inclined since Linux was intitially modelled after Minix to a large degree, but instead he has chosen to be more magnanimous than Mr Stallman and just let it be, so to speak. Which, now that I think about it, is probably more in keeping with the generous spirit of free software than RMS desire for recognition.

i thought that R.M.S said that a modern day Linux system uses many Gnu parts, that's why it should be called GNU/Linux. Considering that Linux is the kernel, which is less than 1% of a modern day linux installation, he isn't wrong on that part.

that fact that he says it every time, that's the bad part.

[koenn]

Who was that for? I believe the PCLOS guys quoted precisely what RMS said, just replacing Linux with PCLinux (which was incredibly stupid, I don't know of any kernel named PCLinux).

They took something RMS said out of context, modified it, and (attempted to) attribute it to him.
And you don't see a problem with that ?

[Icehuck]

i thought that R.M.S said that a modern day Linux system uses many Gnu parts, that's why it should be called GNU/Linux. Considering that Linux is the kernel, which is less than 1% of a modern day linux installation, he isn't wrong on that part.

that fact that he says it every time, that's the bad part.

Except the kernel is pretty much the most important part of a linux system. Everything is designed to work with the kernel so resources can be used. All those extra things are useless without some type of kernel.

[chriskin]

Except the kernel is pretty much the most important part of a linux system. Everything is designed to work with the kernel so resources can be used. All those extra things are useless without some type of kernel.

exactly as you said . without SOME TYPE of kernel.
1)there is already work done on porting Debian to the FreeBSD kernel
2)shuttleworth said that its probably Gnu hurd's time coming soon enough

[Icehuck]

exactly as you said . without SOME TYPE of kernel.
1)there is already work done on porting Debian to the FreeBSD kernel
2)shuttleworth said that its probably Gnu hurd's time coming soon enough

Even if it's 1%, it's still the most important part.

HURD is vaporware.

[koenn]

How about when he said,

"It doesn't take special talents to reproduce, even plants can do it. On the other hand, contributing to a program like Emacs takes real skill. That is really something to be proud of.

It helps more people, too."

Or when he said,

"These birth announcements also spread the myth that having a baby is something to be proud of, which fuels natalist pressure, which leads to pollution, extinction of wildlife, poverty, and ultimately mass starvation"

This was all on the emacs list.

I thought you were talking about his essays and stuff, not quotes from a mailing list.
I don't read the emacs list, so I don't know the context of these quotes, and thus won't comment on them. They are correct, though, from a rational point of view.

[Bachstelze]

They took something RMS said out of context, modified it, and (attempted to) attribute it to him.
And you don't see a problem with that ?

The only problem I see is that it's a blatant troll. Let's move on now, it's not worth discussing for hours.

[jaxxstorm]

Even if it's 1%, it's still the most important part.

HURD is vaporware.

HURD is definitely vaporware. We'll see Duke Nukem Forever before we see HURD finished.