Richard Stallman Has Barely Changed
Collecting "estate" "assets"? That's not "success" in the eyes of Dr. Stallman
"You have to feel for Richard Stallman," Leander Kahney wrote 26 years ago. "Like a Russian revolutionary erased from a photograph, he is being written out of history. Stallman is the originator of the free-software movement and the GNU/Linux operating system. But you wouldn't know it from reading about LinuxWorld. Linus Torvalds got all the ink."
Well, in recent years this has changed. More people now understand where everything started, why the GPL is important, and why software freedom matters more than just "replacing Microsoft" (the core issue is non-free software, which means more than just Microsoft).
Torvalds lives in a very large home in Oregon, whereas Stallman flies "coach" to give talks and lives out of his suitcase, maybe some supermarket bag from Migros. "Nor does Stallman have a car, a TV, or a mortgage," Kahney noted before the first bubble imploded (dot-com). "By his own admission, the 46-year-old bachelor lives frugally in a rented room..."
He is now 72 and he's still a bachelor who lives frugally. He didn't change his views, his mission, his life's goal/s. That isn't something to ridicule but to look up to. He's like Gandhi in some senses.
And you know what? At his age, with cancer, what's the point having many possessions anyway? On the left that's him earlier this year in Turin, Italy. He typically takes public transport. His main asset is inside his skull.
After 40+ years of GNU its founder remains a person of principles, not compromising or surrendering his vision.
Old interviews with Dr. Stallman had him explain or gave the chance to speak about the downsides of taking mortgages, car ownership and various other things. Last year he spoke to 'Exploring Antinatalism' about his relationship with his mother and why he does not have children. █
