Gawker: valleywag, richard stallman

OLPC teaches children to "smoke Windows"

Paul Boutin — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:20:00 EST

Programmer Richard Stallman's 25-year crusade to banish proprietary software from planet Earth hasn't had many victories. Most recently, One Laptop Per Child stabbed RMS in the face by replacing its Stallman-approved freeware with a Windows operating system. OLPC head Nicholas Negroponte, who originally backed a free-software configuration, believes it's a necessary compromise to sell the low-price laptops in a Windows-centric world. Stallman's response compares Negroponte to a drug dealer handing out free samples at the playground.

Teaching children to use Windows is like teaching them to smoke tobacco—in a world where only one company sells tobacco. Like any addictive drug, it inculcates a harmful dependency. No wonder Microsoft offers the first dose to children at a low price. Microsoft aims to teach poor children this dependency so they can smoke Windows for their whole lives. I don’t think governments or schools should support that aim.

(Photo by cheetah100)

Stallman on cloud computing: Run, it's a trap!

Paul Boutin — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 20:00:00 EDT

"One reason you should not use Web applications to do your computing is that you lose control" of the email, photos and other data in your account, GNU founder Richard Stallman told the Guardian's website. "We've redefined cloud computing to include everything that we already do ... it's a marketing hype campaign" designed to ensare people into becoming locked-in customers of Google, Yahoo, Microsoft or whoever else holds their hard-to-transfer digital property. Don't you just hate it when Stallman's right? But his proposed alternative — "Do your own computing on your own computer" — is about as likely as getting people to churn their own butter. (Photo by Paolo Colonnello)

Free software zealot Richard Stallman's hairshirt of a laptop

Jackson West — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:20:00 EDT

The Mengloong from Chinese manufacturer Lemote is a fairly exotic machine — designed to be widely affordable like the One Laptop Per Child project's XO-1, its Loongson-2 processor couldn't run Microsoft Windows if you wanted it to. So it's the machine of choice for Free Software Foundation founder Richard M. Stallman, who felt so "betrayed" by OLPC's capitulation to Redmond he's willing to put up with the Mengloong's quirks, he told a Computerworld reporter:

Unfortunately, it doesn't have a suspend-and-resume capability, which Stallman called "somewhat inconvenient." Nor does the battery charge while it's running, which he called "an annoyance."

"But it's worth it to you," I said.

"For freedom," he responded, "I will make a sacrifice."

I'm no fan of Microsoft's software or business practices, but turning to a machine wholly developed in China doesn't exactly scream "freedom" to me, either. CEO Steve Ballmer may be a tyrant, but even he bows to Paramount Leader Hu Jintao.

Richard Stallman "supermanning dat ho"

Owen Thomas — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:30:26 EST

Yes, in red, that's Richard Stallman, free-software advocate and lover of dance, serving up Soulja Boy's "Crank Dat," a little ditty that celebrates "supermanning dat ho." Odd, since Stallman's dislike of rap music is well-documented.

Want to dance with Richard Stallman?

Owen Thomas — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 16:26:02 EST

First free software, now free love, thanks to a free personal ad. Richard Stallman, the cantankerous founder of the Free Software Foundation, is looking for a "sweetie," according to an ad placed on Craigslist. He's interested in a woman who "values joy, truth, beauty and justice more than 'success,'" so I guess that rules out geek-seeking missile Julia Allison. If you're interested in hearing every single day of the rest of your life why it's "GNU/Linux," not "Linux," read on for Stallman's ad.

I'm a single atheist white man, 54, reputedly intelligent, with unusual interests in politics, science, music and dance.
I'd like to meet a woman with varied interests, curious about the world, comfortable expressing her likes and dislikes (I hate struggling to guess), delighting in her ability to fascinate a man and in being loved tenderly, who values joy, truth, beauty and justice more than "success"—so we can share bouts of intense, passionately kind awareness of each other, alternating with tolerant warmth while we're absorbed in other aspects of life.

My 23-year-old child, the Free Software Movement, occupies most of my life, leaving no room for more children, but I still have room to love a sweetheart if she doesn't need to spend time with me every day. I spend a lot of my time traveling to give speeches, often to Europe, Asia and Latin America; it would be nice if you were free to travel with me some of the time.

Reply and we'll see where it leads.

Will Linux get you laid?

Owen Thomas — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 12:41:09 EDT

Sarah Meyers asks the key question that was on everyone's mind at this week's LinuxWorld conference in San Francisco: Has the open-source operating system gotten anyone laid, ever? The consensus: No. SpikeSource CEO Kim Polese admits to knowing Linux creator Linus Torvalds and insufferable free-software gadfly Richard Stallman, but making out with them? "I'm definitely not going to continue this interview. This is not a serious business interview, is it?" We always knew you were a smart cookie, Kim!

–Video by Sarah Meyers

Richard Stallman attracts air-humping hackers

Nick Douglas — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 15:10:47 EDT

I'm as confused as you'll be about this video found on YouTube (with the title "Naaasty Footage!"). As far as I can tell, the action goes as follows:

Geek Entertainment TV video bloggers Irina Slutsky and Eddie Codel just finished interviewing Richard Stallman, founder of the GNU project and the Free Software Foundation. (That's a huge coup for GETV.)

Hacker "Grandmaster Ratte" (founder of the famed hacker group Cult of the Dead Cow) humps the air behind Stallman.

Next to the Grandmaster is phone phreaker (and alleged, um, child-botherer) Captain Crunch (real name John Draper), an old friend of Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

Naaasty Footage! [YouTube]