I don't agree with everything in this article but I think a part of it really put into words something I had been feeling for some time. I had always found it easy to agree with Stallman's view of free software. I think most reasonable people who didn't have a stake in proprietary software would agree with him. But, something about Stallman that made it hard for me to really take his movement seriously enough to want to take up his banner and follow him, and I think this article hit on why. He is right about the problem but there's a flaw in his approach to solving the problem.
While Stallman is right in asserting that software should be free, he moves into Zealotry in insisting that he only use free software and thereby excluding himself from much of the technology available today. I think ordinary people looking at something like this would be reluctant to follow him or take up his cause because the average person's reaction would be "I could never live like that, yes I agree with him, but I'm simply not willing to give up my facebook, or google chrome, or microsoft word."
I don't think Stallman would look like a hypocrite or have his point weakened if here were to advocate for legislative changes to make software free while still using proprietary software. If someone challenges him or calls him a hypocrite he could just respond that he is living within the unfortunate realities of the current day, which is dominated by proprietary software, while still fighting for a better tomorrow with free software. I don't think any reasonable person would take him less seriously just for using software that, in many cases, he has no other option but to use. I mean really, this guy doesn't even browse the internet because websites have proprietary software and instead uses some kind of software to get info off the web - that's extreme.
I don't think convincing the world to only use free software is a very realistic goal, because most people don't really understand the problem, let along care enough about the problem to make the huge sacrifices that a life without proprietary software would demand. Instead I think he would have a much stronger chance of succeeding if he worked to protest and raise awareness geared towards legislative change to prevent software companies from using the restrictive licensing agreements they use today.
Stallman has compromised in some ways, even when it comes to using proprietary software. For example, before there was grub I believe he made an exception and used non-free bios.
Ultiamtely, even RMS seems to suggest a convenience standard. If the tradeoff is too harsh, at some point it is permissible to use proprietary software. And this is even leaving aside the various non-relative exceptions he has made, such as use of proprietary software in devices that are not primarily for general purpose computing.
So even RMS is OK with proprietary software where there are no free alternatives, or where using proprietary software is somehow not part of a "computer". But now that there is a good free system in Gnu + Linux, the user has no excuse for using proprietary programs in general computing. There is still a sacrifice to live by RMS' standards, but it is relatively small compared with, say, the sacrifices demanded of civil rights campaigners in the 60s.
Of course, one could debate whether reasonable free alternatives exist in certain areas. Perhaps to RMS it is only a minor inconvenience to use only free software to view web pages, and to avoid websites that run proprietary scripts or that spy on users. What kind of moral weakling would betray the cause of freedom for the convenience of one-click ordering of crap on Amazon. The obvious weakness to this argument is that there are surely people for which proprietary software offers convenience that they view as essential to their lives. This is a hard problem, both in philosophy and practice.
I'm posting this off an old Thinkpad X61s variant which happened to be manufactured with an atheros wifi card and I'm running gNewSense 4.0. All my major use cases covered.
> I don't think any reasonable person would take him less seriously just for using software that, in many cases, he has no other option but to use.
It's not a public stance for rms. He simply doesn't have the need to use non-free software on his own devices. He will (and has) in a pinch, use someone's windows machine, much like he will use a someone's mobile phone to make a call. He's very pragmatic in that way: he doesn't want non-free software on his devices, controlling his life.
>I mean really, this guy doesn't even browse the internet because websites have proprietary software and instead uses some kind of software to get info off the web - that's extreme.
This is another case of his reputation preceding him. He doesn't casually browse the Internet because he has no time for that. Any interesting website he wants to read he has (automatically) sent to him by e-mail. This way he can process everything in batches when he has the opportunity, regardless of whether he has a connection at that time.
In short: rms is't making any sacrifices in order not to be perceived as a hypocrite. He has simply arranged his life in such a way that he doesn't depend on any proprietary software. And these days, it's really not that hard anymore, when you think about what you really need, software or otherwise.
While Stallman is right in asserting that software should be free, he moves into Zealotry in insisting that he only use free software and thereby excluding himself from much of the technology available today. I think ordinary people looking at something like this would be reluctant to follow him or take up his cause because the average person's reaction would be "I could never live like that, yes I agree with him, but I'm simply not willing to give up my facebook, or google chrome, or microsoft word."
I don't think Stallman would look like a hypocrite or have his point weakened if here were to advocate for legislative changes to make software free while still using proprietary software. If someone challenges him or calls him a hypocrite he could just respond that he is living within the unfortunate realities of the current day, which is dominated by proprietary software, while still fighting for a better tomorrow with free software. I don't think any reasonable person would take him less seriously just for using software that, in many cases, he has no other option but to use. I mean really, this guy doesn't even browse the internet because websites have proprietary software and instead uses some kind of software to get info off the web - that's extreme.
I don't think convincing the world to only use free software is a very realistic goal, because most people don't really understand the problem, let along care enough about the problem to make the huge sacrifices that a life without proprietary software would demand. Instead I think he would have a much stronger chance of succeeding if he worked to protest and raise awareness geared towards legislative change to prevent software companies from using the restrictive licensing agreements they use today.