Hacker News Reader

Comment by matthavener | Hacker News Reader

I doubt it. RMS uses some laptop specifically because the processor is open source. From his wiki page: "Stallman's only computer is a Lemote Yeeloong netbook (using the same company's Loongson processor) which he chose because it can run with 100% free software even at the BIOS level, stating "freedom is my priority. I've campaigned for freedom since 1983, and I am not going to surrender that freedom for the sake of a more convenient computer."[57] Lemote is a joint venture of the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, an institution of the State Council of China."

View on HN

More details on that laptop, if it piques your interest: http://www.amazon.com/Screen-Lemote-Yeeloong-8101_B-Netbook/...

It'd be much more compelling if I knew how much RAM I could jam in the thing. Comes with 1GB, but if I could get 4 in there, it'd be a rocking little machine.

Not too bad a configuration, except for the limited screen.

It's ironic that his "free" computer was funded by the Chinese government.

I'm confused. Would it also be ironic if it were instead funded by the US government?

It's actually not. The US government doesn't have to worry about malicious hardware spying on them, because all the hardware is designed (and mostly manufactured) in the US. China, on the other hand, can't trust Microsoft or Intel, so they have to develop their own stuff. Since that's hard, they pawn it off on the Free Software community, who wants the same thing they do (but for different reasons). "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" and all that.

> "The enemy of my enemy

is a potential tactical ally for as long as it makes sense."

What's most ironic is that the so-called "free" world is incapable of producing a truly free computer.

The free world is truly capable of doing that, it just decided that is more lucrative to build non-free computers...

China? Could he not side with someone who dislikes USA more? Surely there's a North Korean laptop that fits his requirements. Not that anyone other than Stallman is right, it's just odd.

His concern in this case is to get something that runs with free software, rather than buy something from a particular country. I'm sure he'd agree that China does a lot of things he disagrees with at a political and philosophical level.

What does the USA have to do with this? It's not exactly the paragon of freedom.

He's American.

I would think he'd have a problem with China's track record on freedom more than any anti-USA connotations.

I guess Coca-Cola is an evil company but China is okay.

Your complaint seems just a little bit ridiculous considering that most Americans, yourself probably included, use computers made in China or made with parts made in China. In fact, it's probably easier to find and computer 100% free of proprietary software than a computer 100% free of Chinese components. Considering that, national security concerns aside, free trade between countries is usually mutually beneficial, I see no reason to fault Stallman for this.

I meant that he cares about total freedom and control of his hardware, and yet bought from a country that likes the opposite. Who knows if some part of it isn't actually open source, and if it isn't, China and NK are the least trustable countries (not companies per se) for it to be from.

If people based their buying decisions on whether or not they like the producing country, it would kill US exports.

Not as much as you would think. Most people don't quite like the US but vastly prefer us to, say, China.

I disagree. I think people dislike the Chinese government, but not the Chinese people. I think there's a lot more racism against Americans in general in foreign countries than against the Chinese.

At the risk of making meta-noise, why, oh why, have five different people replied to this thing in a single hour? Does anyone think that some kind of lovely discussion is going to bloom by "refuting" this comment? Half the page is now about whether Richard Stallman is anti-American and anti-freedom for buying a Chinese-manufactured laptop. Is this a good outcome?

Seriously, just downvote (or if it's bad enough, flag) and move on.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com