The Future Of Free Software Without Richard Stallman

Richard Stallman has resigned from both MIT and the Free Software Foundation. What now? What is the future of the free software movement?

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[michaelkpate]

35 years ago my brother gave me a copy of Steven Levy's Hackers. For anyone who wasn't read it, it tells the story of the MIT Hackers in the 1960s, the early computer builders like Altair during the 1970s, and the early software gaming companies like Sierra Online in the 1980s.

The last portion of the book is all about the last guy at MIT hacking LISP and desperately trying to keep the Hacker Ethic alive. His name was Richard Stallman. It was actually kind of depressing but the book ended on a hopeful note that he was trying to do his own version of Unix.

I think his legacy is intact no matter what happens from here.

[penguin]

I disagree about Linus being a small part of the kernel. Linus sets really dumb standards over really small things that ultimately have a huge impact on the quality of the kernel itself. Without him being that perfectionist, the quality of the kernel would decline over time (IMO).

[khronosschoty]

If anyone has the right to represent the kernel its Torvalds. If anyone has a right to represent the fsf and gnu its Stallman... no one has a right to question that.

[cluelessbuttrying]

Richard Stallman is a super intelligent person that has made a career out of making decisions based on principle. The fact that RMS is no longer at MIT is a reflection of the deterioration of MIT and American universities in general. I doubt that I would be getting a college degree now, when knowledge is publicly available for free and the role of universities as places for the open sharing of ideas is so grossly degraded.
Richard Stallman made possible the "free software" movement against enormous odds, and his two great contributions (GNU software and GPL license) are monuments to be preserved and studied by every and all intelligent and freedom-loving persons in this world.

[ethana.]

Hello. I am a fairly new user. I got into GNU/Linux from watching loads of videos from Luke Smith. It really blew me away how much easier it was to customize and automize tasks. I loved the problem solving it promotes the user to use.

So, I would say that in this new generation, people my age (younger) are more likely to be introduced to Linux from Social Media influencers, more so than figures like Linus and Stallman.

I think that this situation puts more pressure on people like you DT, to promote Linux, while still sticking to its core values.

[leonardocafferata]

Ppl are talking badly about your dead friend without any solid evidence. Theres clear evidence of foul play from the media. You have two choices: 1)say something on behalf of your dead friend. 2) save face and stay quiet and let them brand your dead friend as a child rapist without solid evidence. Its nice to know where some ppl stand on some topics. Nice video D.

[Xarius]

"I don't know anything about what's going on" because I haven't tuned into the world in weeks...but, I'm going to make a video about it.

[SimGunther]

Considering how coincidental Stallman's firing was despite him having more controversial comments/beliefs, this is certainly "weaponized cancellation" if I've ever seen it.

And yes, it's quite stupid for any university (especially MIT of all places) to not have private email listings smh

[j.rob.]

No one is defending him. People are defending the principles of free speech, tolerance, etc. It’s unconscionable to try to “erase” someone from society because of their opinions. What if he didn’t have money DT? What if he needed his job? Is he supposed to go into the forest and lie down and die? You know damn well no one is going to hire a 70 year old man fired for accusations of defending a child molester.

[AdrianCorduneanu]

It is incorrect that the president of MIT resigned. The person who resigned was the president of MIT Media Lab, which is one of the many labs of MIT

[juzujuzu]

I don't know exactly what are the previous complaints against Stallman, but I would be VERY surprised if main proprietary software corporations wouldn't have placed agents in all important free and open source organizations as double agents. Even if FSF membership grows, it won't be getting media coverage etc platforms to speak for people that don't even know about free software ideology.


But I'm really hoping that FSF will form a winning strategy. But I fear it will become irrelevant. Strong leaders are surprisingly important, even when they are horrible.


My biggest fear is Lindows. Microsoft Embrace, extend, and extinguish Linux slowly by building their own Android model with desktop and server operating systems. Google destroyed mobile Linux possibilities. It has to be Microsoft's long term goal. It explains everything they have done the past X years, and it's the only solution that could actually increase their market share. M$ made 40 billions in profit last year. With that amount of money they can do anything. Sticks and carrot method is so damn effective, and you can always pay your billion dollar fines with 1-2 weeks of profits.


Corporations are evil after they become big enough. It's just the laws of modern economics, and the failure of regulation and governments. They are soulless corporeal entities that have no empathy and one goal, to grow and become a monopoly or as close to it as possible.

[RoboNuggie]

Well, FreeBSD has been RMS Free Since 1993... So no change here :-)

[kainech]

The immediate futuure of free software is bleak. It's not bleak because RMS is out. He was going to die in the next few years. The dude is old. It's bleak, because he's out from cancel culture. That's the exact opposite of the free software ethos.

And remember, if you were more popular, you'd have taken the bullet too. You did have to leave a job because of an accusation of racism. This, of course, means you're guilty. If you were a little more popular, we'd be talking about *you* like we are RMS.

[leviticus]

You can say or think whatever. Putting it on your employer's machines, servers, mailing list, Employment 101 fail. MIT had no other option.

I do hope that he does get some help and enjoys the rest of his life. He won't be hurting for money.

[Chrns]

Context matters a lot here too. Look at some of what he's said about pedophilia in the past. With that in mind, what he said there carries a whole new meaning imo. I'm glad he's gone.

[jk-gnfu]

Unlike most of the other people, RMS always has been a "I gotta say what I gotta say no matter what you think." type of person since the beginning of his early movement. We should be at least considering about that when we criticize him.

[allanarmond]

Their objective will be fulfilled when they boot LT too. Say good bye to freedom.

[vitiok]

Can't wait for some random Microsoft's puppet to rule them all... EEE in action

[matthewweber]

All of a sudden now, if you know someone who is accused of sexual assault, you get fired. There are a whole host of other reasons why Stallman shouldn't still be around as a representative of FOSS, but this isn't really one of them. This whole guilty until proven innocent thing is going to be the doom of all of us.

[Peshyy]

What if M$ arranged all of this? And it was their plan all along? What if they want to control free software and in time, take over Linux as well?
I feel sorry for Stallman, I feel sorry for the FSF.. Things will never be the same