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Ignoring the Thumper Rule

October 8, 2011 11:12:41.070

Wow, it turns out that Stallman is a bigger ass than I thought he was - and I've never thought all that highly of him to begin with. He needs to go watch this video - it's only 11 seconds long, but I expect that he'll need to repeat a few thousand times for it to sink in.

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posted by James Robertson

Comments

Re: Ignoring the Thumper Rule

[W^L+] October 8, 2011 13:34:07.311

I'm not sure I agree. While I definitely see Mr Jobs' contributions in a somewhat more positive light, I don't believe we're at all well-served by pretending that someone was a saint once the pass away. I think, though, that "rms" was more likely saying that he hopes Jobs' successor is more willing to work with FSF / OSI on addressing issues related to software freedom.

That you continually grumble about legal and technological restrictions on how you can use the media you purchase puts you a lot closer to Stallman than you may like to admit. And Apple, as the primary distribution channel for media, could be said to be complicit in locking you out of enjoying the media you've purchased. Doubly so on the software side.

Personally, I think Apple's acquiescence gives us something that is less virulent than the RIAA / MPAA / BSA desired, and so it is positive, rather than negative.

Re: Ignoring the Thumper Rule

[James Robertson] October 8, 2011 14:38:54.696

Where Stallman loses me is when he forgets that there's a difference between what the developer wants - a fully open system that can be tinkered with - and what the end user wants, which is a device that he turns on, uses, and doesn't think about. Jobs understood that latter use implicitly; Stallman either has no clue, or thinks that such use is not worth thinking about.

As to Apple locking me out, that really doesn't much hit me. I find Flash to be a major annoyance, and not having it on my iPhone and iPad is mostly a good thing.

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