Comments

• Michael

  2013-08-31 21:30:06

  Stallman:

  [Jobs] pioneered computers used as jails for their users.

  
  
  This is a direct lie. There is no jail in the world people pay to get into. There is no jail that generally earns the highest user satisfaction rating of any accommodation (I say generally because in a recent survey an Android phone actually beat an iPhone). Their is no jail you can choose to leave any time you want. There is no jail in any Apple device. The idea that iPhones and iPads are "jails" is absurd and dishonest. This does not mean there are not things about these devices which can easily be argued to be flawed and even user-hostile, but Stallman purposely uses dishonest language here. He is lying.
  
  He then says the only reason Apple protects their users is because of business interests. This is *one* reason, no doubt - but it is not the only reason. Again, Stallman shows he is completely clueless about the tech world - or is a liar. Then he says the choices that Apple and their customers make should be *illegal*. Yes: Stallman wants to use the law to limit choice. Things about this: Stallman claims to be for choice and freedom, but he thinks choices he does not approve of should be not just things his cult-like followers should not pick but that they should be*illegal*... that *nobody* should be able to make choices he does not approve. He is a massive hypocrite.
  
  Then he attacks the millions of people who use Apple products as "fools" - just sinking to name calling when he cannot think of a reasonable argument. He also says the only thing appealing about the iPhone and similar devices is that they are "cool": well, if you include greater productivity, efficiency, and error-reduction as being "cool" then, sure, but I think that is very deceptive wording at best.
  
  Then Stallman says Jobs made the world a "worse place" by making tools people seek by the millions and are extremely popular and powerful and easier to use than anything that came before them. No: he made the world a better place. Stallman is just made that *he* does not have control... he cannot push laws to limit people's choices.
  
  Now do not get me wrong: there are things about iPhones and iPads and the like which are not done well, where I think Apple is too restrictive and I wish things were different. Stallman could *reasonably* talk about these things. But instead he opts to openly lie.
  
  Stallman is a liar or does not understand the tech industry, people, and language at all.