> I know people on HN do not have respect for RMS
What? That's one hell of a strawman if I ever saw one.
And there's no need to list off software. I'm not sure it's possible to be in this site's target demographic and not know who he is.
What? That's one hell of a strawman if I ever saw one.
And there's no need to list off software. I'm not sure it's possible to be in this site's target demographic and not know who he is.
We detached it from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11591910 and marked it off-topic.
Taking opportunity to clarify what we're talking about is just good communication.
Richard M. Strawman, to be precise.
I do remember this also happened in Slashdot occasionally. People using free software criticizing RMS as an extremist.
Which is pretty disappointing, given that many of the people doing the disparaging are using software borne out of the efforts of said free software / hacker movements.
> People using free software criticizing RMS as an extremist.
I agree with these views, but it doesn't mean that I don't respect him.
"I respect this lunatic whose views are divorced from reality"... isn't this damning him with faint praise, and therefore confirming user _RPM's first sentence?
Science is intertwined with the accomplished legacies of hated figures whose beliefs were shaped by prejudice, yet whose works became recognized and included in established theory.
Computing fields tend to venerate their idols with a religious-like fervor, unfortunately.
What I'm saying is that even if you disagree you can respect only if you recognize the motivations behind someones labor.
To say that GNU is good technology but don't agree with its premise is disrespectful because, by definition the design has failed if you don't agree with the agenda.
So you could say that you respect the effort but think it has failed, or you can say that you like the result but don't really respect its origins.
Uhm, no. People do great things for strange motives all the time. Stallman may have written Emacs for some ideological crusade which I don't care about (and consider counter-productive to the world at large), but I can not pretend that it's a great technological achievement.