[clue-talk] Richard Stallman Slams OLPC for Switching to Windows - Webmonkey

[Nate Duehr]

On Feb 7, 2009, at 12:09 PM, David Maddox wrote:

> That being said, sounds like more branded exploitation of those who  
> don´t have the defense of consumer cynicism, a suggestion that OLPC  
> could learn from the microfinance folks, who look more at the social  
> impact of their incursions into societies rather than being  
> evangelists for our ´way of life´ and all the strings attached.

One could argue that exact same point against Stallman's view of the  
world.

There's also no "defense" against "utopian ideals" of the Stallman  
(GPL) religion, which leads many people to believe that Linux will  
somehow surpass the commercial products out there.  (Other than being  
smart about it, just like the "defense of consumer cynicism".   
Frankly, BOTH groups are trying to sell you something in their  
messages, one just isn't Free-as-in-Beer and the other is.  You still  
"pay" for Linux, in time spent figuring out arcane silliness in  
applications developed with the developer and not the end-user in  
mind, and the time to learn a twenty year old command-line user  
interface, if you really want to know your computer tools.  All that  
time, isn't free.)

Linux on the desktop, is not a panacea of wonderful experiences for  
"average" computer users -- it's still busy making a system that makes  
sense for people like you and me who "get" how Unix works -- but  
that's not the general public.

And... as far as "evangelists for our 'way of life'"!  Whoa there...  
Stallman's virtually a Pastoral figure amongst the "enlightened".   
Free Software is even called a "movement", like a religion.

I'm not saying I personally am making this argument, just pointing out  
the (perhaps glaringly) obvious, that Stallman and his legions of  
zealouts often come across as the exact same things you just mentioned  
above...

Nate