Bonum Certa Men Certa

Shortly After Richard Stallman Says He's Head of GNU He Writes “I Hereby Step Down as Head of the GNU Project, Effective Immediately” (Updated)

What happened?

Update (16:00 GMT): turns out his site got defaced

Update (03/10/2019): Richard Stallman has since then stated he wants people to support the FSF.

Very confused



Summary: Very confusing times; it looks like Richard Stallman is being forcibly separated from everything he ever created as well as the place of those creations (MIT)

TORVALDS and Stallman are both being besieged, albeit in somewhat different ways; both are also at different stages of the apparently staged 'phaseout'.



It's all happening so quickly. MIT, FSF, now GNU. He's being 'canceled'.

"It's all happening so quickly. MIT, FSF, now GNU."As reported by Phoronix, Stallman sought to clarify that he had remained in charge of GNU, but posted a short time ago was this odd (contradictory) update:

"I hereby step down as head of the GNU Project, effective immediately.

"Richard Stallman"

Only two days earlier Stallman wrote (as a formal statement, not a reply to anything):

From: Richard Stallman Subject: GNU Project Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2019 13:20:25 -0400

[[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider ]]] [[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies, ]]] [[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]

On September 16 I resigned as president of the Free Software Foundation, but the GNU Project and the FSF are not the same. I am still the head of the GNU Project (the Chief GNUisance), and I intend to continue as such.

-- Dr Richard Stallman Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://gnu.org, https://fsf.org) Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)


It's very clear that something then happened; someone contacted him. One can guess.

"It's very clear that something then happened; someone contacted him. One can guess."No further details given. As DarwinElf put it in our IRC channel, "first RMS said he's remaining as head of GNU Project because it's not the same as FSF... now a few days later he said he stepped down as head of GNU... is the theory he was pressured/ordered by bad actors? It's on stallman.org... his news (political?) section..."

"I don't want it to be taken over by a Lennart/Red Hat/IBM yesman..."

RMS "turned into that anyway," MinceR joked.

"Either way, Richard Stallman seems to have been incapacitated."He was referring to Stallman's reluctance to say something negative about systemd.

Either way, Richard Stallman, the legendary "RMS", seems to have been incapacitated.

What a major, catastrophic loss for the Free software movement.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Sounds Like IBM is Preparing for Mass Layoffs/Redundancies in Red Hat, Albeit in "PIP" (Performance Improvement Plan) or "Relocation" Clothing
This isn't the "old" IBM; they're applying pressure by confusion and humiliation
Gemini Links 17/04/2025: Role of Language and Back to Mutt for E-mail
Links for the day
Microsoft's Attack Dogs Have Failed. Now What?
It would be utterly foolish to assume that Microsoft has any intention of changing
 
Free Software and Standards - Not Marketing Blitz - Needed Amid Growing Severity of Dependency on Hostile Suppliers (or Another Country's Sovereignty)
ZenDiS can be described as the "Center for Digital Sovereignty of Public Administration"
When It Comes to the Web, Google is Evil and It Destroys the Web's Integrity With LLM Slop
Even academia, which is meant to keep standards high, is being lured into LLM slop
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 18, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 18, 2025
Links 18/04/2025: "Fentanylware (TikTok) Exodus Continues", Chinese Weapons Allegedly in Russia Already
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/04/2025: Price of Games and State of Tinylog
Links for the day
"Sayonara" (さよなら), Microsoft
Windows had fallen below iOS in some countries
Links 18/04/2025: Layoffs at Microsoft Infosys and Qt Becoming Increasingly Proprietary (Plus Slop)
Links for the day
Google News is Dying
treating MElon's algorithmic/biased site as a source of verified news
All Your "Github Projects" Will be Gone One Day (Just Like Skype)
If you have code you wish to share and keep, then start learning how to do so on your own
To Understand Who's Truly Controlling You Follow the Trail of Censorship (or Self-Censorship)
Do not let media steal and steer the narrative; CoCs are not about "social justice", they're about corporate domination
Fedora Already Lost Its Soul Under IBM
Fedora used to be very strict compared to many other distros and it had attracted very bright volunteers
Microsoft is Still Attacking GNU/Linux and the Net
Microsoft bribed the government using money that did not even exist
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 17, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 17, 2025
Gemini Links 18/04/2025: Pinephone Pro and Linux is too Easy
Links for the day
Links 17/04/2025: Calling Whistleblowers at Microsoft, Slop Doing More Harm Everywhere
Links for the day
Links 17/04/2025: Russian Bot Farms Infect TikTok (Which US Government and SCOTUS Decided to Block January 19), US Hardware Stocks Crash Due to Tariffs
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/04/2025: Sticking to Free Software, Smolnet, and Counting the Reals
Links for the day
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Privacy Fiasco in Detail: In Conclusion and Enforcement Action Proceeds Against OSI at the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA)
There's too much to cover in one single part
When You Fail to Filter Your Clients You End Up SLAPPing Reporters on Behalf of Bad People From Microsoft in Another Continent
“American Psycho”
Links 17/04/2025: LayoffBot and Tesla Cheats Buyers
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 16, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 16, 2025