Stallman talks freedom
Last Thursday we were visited by the illustrious Richard Stallman. Many of you, being active developers, have probably heard of him. He gained much of his fame from founding the GNU project and being an adamant supporter of free software for over twenty years. He is also the creator of the well-known editor, Emacs.
Mr. Stallman came to our university to talk about free software and the GNU project. Myself and a friend, having had decided to go (naturally!), were quite excited to hear what Mr. Stallman had to say. Upon arriving in the theatre where he was to appear, we learned that his plane arrival was delayed due to weather, and ended up waiting an hour and a half for Father GNU to arrive. I busied myself with a near-due combinatorics assignment, so it wasn't so bad.
Anyways, Mr. Stallman finally arrived, and there was a very strong applause. U of W is renowned for its allure to Computer Science majors, so we had a big audience that were all quite excited to listen to Mr. Stallman speak.
The first part of his talk was focused on defining what exactly free software is, and why it is important for our society. So far so good. He mentioned the four freedoms that are granted to us by free software: it can be freely modified, it can be freely distributed in its original form, modifications can be freely distributed, and of course, it can be freely used and its source-code freely read. This does not sound like a big deal for people who are not programmers, but Mr. Stallman claimed that since there are communities around these products (usually), there is still the ability for others who CAN program to make modifications on your behalf. Mr. Stallman was very adamant about proprietary software being an evil that takes away one's freedom. Even the exclusion of one of the four freedom constitutes a product not worth using. He argued that not using any and all software that is not free (as in speech) should never be used, regardless of the sacrifice required. He was very adamant about this.
He was doing a good job convincing me until he mentioned that last point. I think that free software is a fantastic thing, and while I do not actively support it, I support the idea of it by using many different pieces of free software in my day-to-day computer usage. Still, to bar oneself from using ALL forms of proprietary software is no solution. Proprietary software has the benefits of being developed (usually) by a far more organized, experienced, and well-equipped team than a free software team equivalent. This is simply because of one thing: money. Free software is (generally) developed for free, in developers' spare time. It's undeniable that many companies work with and develop free software as well, though. With hundreds or thousands or millions of dollars and structured organizations behind these proprietary products (that includes commercial video games!), the level of quality and technological achievement greatly surpasses where the free software community stands. Does Mr. Stallman suggest that we all live five or ten years in the past and use those product simply because they preserve a set of arbitrary freedoms that he created? Plus, I've never seen any free software attractively shrink-wrapped. [smile]
Mr. Stallman also had a segment on the history of the GNU project. It was interesting to learn that the GNU project was originally paying a developer to create a kernel for their operating system, but they ended up seeing Linus Torvalds' kernel, Linux, as a more feasible option. It turns out that Mr. Torvalds' kernel was not originally entirely 'free software' by the FSF's standards, so it was only a time afterwards that Mr. Torvalds ended up changing his kernel's license that GNU adopted it into their operating system. That's where Mr. Stallman suddenly grew very bitter. He was (still!?) very unhappy about how the public generally mistakenly began calling the GNU operating system with Mr. Torvalds' kernel "Linux". This perpetuated itself, and even today the operating system is most commonly referred to as Linux. I think even I am guilty of this misnomer. However, he still seemed very displeased that Mr. Torvalds received much of the fame of his and the FSF's hard work, and mentioned how many people mistakenly believe that Mr. Torvalds was the original father of free software, rather than Mr. Stallman. He also asked of us to call Linux "GNU/Linux" or "GNU+Linux" whenever we refer to the operating system. This was definitely the low part of his talk.
Things went up from there. He donned a robe and a placed a giant CD-ROM on his head, made to resemble a halo. He then jokingly introduced himself as Saint IGNUcius, of the Church of Emacs. He made several jokes that got a good laugh from the audience, such as "'vi vi vi' is the number of the Beast", and "using vi is not a sin; it is a penance". Hyuk hyuk. [smile]
He closed his talk in a rather unexpected manner: an open auction. He had brought several items with him to sell in order to raise money for the Free Software Foundation. A plush GNU gnu (hah!) was sold for $75, a signed hardcover book of Mr. Stallman's (I forget which, alas) for $95, and afterward softcover copies for $25 each. There was also a booth outside of the theatre selling free software merchandise. I think they did pretty well that night. I didn't buy anything, as per my rights as a free software user. [grin]
Finally Mr. Stallman requested questions from the audience. Things got pretty hairy here. There were several audience members that disagreed with the reasoning on some of Mr. Stallman's points, which I grew disappointed with how he handled. He became very outspoken, evangelical, and actually quite angry about anyone who disagreed with him on any of his points. In all fairness, though, he answered several (much more neutral) questions quite well.
Overall I am very happy that I attended the talk, even if I don't completely subscribe to Mr. Stallman's philosophies. I feel that I can appreciate free software more fully now, and understand the history of a behemoth like GNU/Linux (heh) much better. Despite it all, though, you still won't catch me using Emacs. [grin] (Okay, well, not too often.)
He does appear to have a bee in his bonnet over a bunch of issues that detract from his overall message, especially his strict "proprietary software = evil" stance and overblowing the whole GNU/Linux thing. Most people don't care about the first issue (it's not as if the average person is going to extend code for anything). The GNU/Linux thing just comes across as petty; I can see why Stallman would be annoyed if someone else appears to be getting credit where it isn't due, but it doesn't alter the fact that Linux is just a much catchier name than GNU, and a jillion times better than the bastardisation that is GNU/Linux.