stallmansupport.org
is back to being regularly updated!
stallmansupport.org
-- a site that RMS himself keeps endorsing in his public talks; we need to highlight some things that, whenever quoted, "trigger" the cancel mob once more (because they strike a nerve)
THE old "open letter" (2+ years old! Time flies!) against RMS may seem unimportant, but the "cancel mob" is still at it, as we shall show in the coming few days, maybe as early as this weekend. We'll write about Amendment 130 and note that "opponents have now dusted off the term "freeware" after a very long hiatus to try to increase confusion about freedom and specifically about software freedom," as an associate notes. We've just mentioned that in passing, showing yesterday's words from a Microsoft front group (OSI today is not what it used to be).
It’s been more than two years since MacArthur Fellow and founder of the Free Software Foundation Richard Stallman was forced to resign from his positions at MIT and the FSF.
In March of 2021, he was reinstated to the board of the FSF in recognition of the role he has played in founding and campaigning globally — with great success — for the concept of copyleft, or the freedom to use, study, distribute, and modify what would otherwise be proprietary software.
Stallman has opened our minds about the role of software, which permeates every aspect of our lives. He is not only a software developer, but he is also a philosopher of technology.
In hundreds if not thousands of talks he has presented in universities, national legislatures, computer companies, and high-tech conferences since he first announced the plan for the GNU operating system in 1983, he has warned about the dangers and limitations of proprietary software, while encouraging the adoption of free software.
I have heard Richard speak several times. In fact, I invited him to speak at one of my Berkeley Cybersalons, which featured conversations about the impact of technology on our lives. It’s been more than 50 years since I graduated from Reed College, and listening to Richard reminded me of the lectures at Reed that influenced my life. Those lectures to a 16-year-old freshman made me realize that ideas — like free software — have the power to shape the future.
And that’s why Stallman needs to be heard by young computer scientists and future startup founders in an endowed university chair for the philosophy of technology. It’s time for some tech millionaires to step up and acknowledge Stallman’s positive influence in the world and help him continue to free our minds.
stallmansupport.org
earlier this week as well (apparently yesterday). To quote:
When I read about the MIT incident I immediately thought, “witch hunt.” There are billions of people who stand to win from the work of the FSF and Richard Stallman's principled adherence to free software. At the same time, there are thousands of powerful people, including billionaires, who stand to lose from the advancement of free software.
It is clear that there is an effort by the software billionaires to weaken the free software movement. (By the way, something similar happened to the newspaper The Guardian after it revealed the Snowden information. There was a change in management that was “milder” and put less emphasis on the environment.)
In any case, I support free software wholeheartedly, and Stallman has been very principled about doing software 100% free. The witch hunt is a reason for me to double the support to the FSF under rms. Onward!
The war on free software continues, this time with an attempt to “cancel” the founder of the free software movement and to coup the board of FSF.
And as a transgender person, it disgusts me much that some people try to use us as a weapon against free software, by falsely accusing one of our biggest allies of transphobia, when in fact there is none.
No, Stallman hasn’t “spent years on a campaign against using people’s correct pronouns,” there literally wasn’t such campaign. In fact, the cited GNU Kind Communication Guidelines literally advocate respecting people’s gender identity, and trying to twist them into something opposite is disingenuous and done with bad faith.