https://www.channelfutures.com/wp-content/themes/channelfutures_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • Analytics
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud
    • Data Centers
    • Desktop
    • IoT
    • Mobility
    • Networking
    • Open Source
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Virtualization
    • Voice/Connectivity
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Best Practices
    • Business Models
    • Channel 101
    • Channel Programs
    • Channel Research
    • Digital Transformation
    • Diversity & Inclusion
    • Leadership
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Specialty Practices
  • MSSP Insider
    • Back
    • Business of Security
    • Cloud and Edge
    • Endpoint
    • Network
    • People and Careers
    • Training and Policies
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • 2020 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2020 Hot 101 Rankings
    • 2020 MSP 501 Report
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Our Sponsors
    • From the Industry
    • Content Resources
    • COVID-19 Partner Help
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • Reports
    • Videos
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • EMEA
  • Awards
    • Back
    • Excellence in Digital Services
    • 2020 MSP 501
    • Top Gun 51
  • Events
    • Back
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • Channel Partners Evolution
    • Channel Evolution Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
  • Channel Mentor
    • Back
    • Channel Market Intelligence
    • Channel Educational Series
Channel Futures
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • Analytics
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud
    • Data Centers
    • Desktop
    • IoT
    • Mobility
    • Networking
    • Open Source
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Virtualization
    • Voice/Connectivity
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Best Practices
    • Business Models
    • Channel 101
    • Channel Programs
    • Channel Research
    • Digital Transformation
    • Diversity & Inclusion
    • Leadership
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Specialty Practices
  • MSSP Insider
    • Back
    • Business of Security
    • Cloud and Edge
    • Endpoint
    • Network
    • People and Careers
    • Training and Policies
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • 2020 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2020 Hot 101 Rankings
    • 2020 MSP 501 Report
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Our Sponsors
    • From the Industry
    • Content Resources
    • COVID-19 Partner Help
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • Reports
    • Videos
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • EMEA
  • Awards
    • Back
    • Excellence in Digital Services
    • 2020 MSP 501
    • Top Gun 51
  • Events
    • Back
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • Channel Partners Evolution
    • Channel Evolution Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
  • Channel Mentor
    • Back
    • Channel Market Intelligence
    • Channel Educational Series
    • Newsletter
  • REGISTER
  • MSPs
  • VARs / SIs
  • Digital Service Providers
  • Cloud Service Providers
  • CHANNEL PARTNERS ONLINE
 Channel Futures

Open Source


Richard Stallman Talks GNU, Linux, Terrorism and French Politics

  • Written by Christopher Tozzi
  • April 18, 2016

What is Richard Stallman, the father of free software (if not open source) like in person? And what is he thinking now about Linux, terrorism and French politics? I gained some insight recently when the founder of the GNU operating system spoke near Paris.

What is Richard Stallman, the father of free software (if not open source) like in person? And what is he thinking now about Linux, terrorism and French politics? I gained some insight recently when the founder of the GNU operating system spoke near Paris.

I glimpsed Stallman for the first time as he boarded the bus I was riding from Paris to the suburb of Choisy-le-Roi, where he gave a talk at a library last weekend to promote “free digital society.” Out of breath and sporting khaki pants, a green polo and a worn Monoprix bag, he was immediately unmistakable.

Stallman says in his description of his “lifestyle” that he hates wasting time. He indeed wasted no time after boarding the bus before pulling out a laptop. He hacked for the duration of the hour-long ride to Choisy-le-Roi.

Upon exiting the bus Stallman appeared deeply agitated at the absence of the French host who was supposed to meet him at the station. A lesser hacker might have pulled out a cell phone and called the host, but Stallman does not use those. So, abandoning his original rendezvous plan, he set off into the town, where — after some fumbling encounters with locals who gave conflicting directions to the library — he eventually found the venue.

The library space was on the second floor of the building. The ground floor of the structure was empty. Stallman remarked that this seemed a horribly inefficient waste of space. He’s a guy who likes efficiency.

Seeing no one to help him set up at the library, Stallman took to the podium to shout “Je cherche des organisateurs!” — “I’m looking for the organizers!” — about a dozen times, until a library staff member arrived. He then proceeded to remove his shoes and socks, walk around the library and eat some cookies while the staff hurriedly set up a projector.

The audience that came out to see Stallman was surprisingly large and diverse. It included the geeks you’d expect — one guy in his twenties wearing a shirt with the 0 A.D. game logo, another whose clothing declared “Anonymity is not a crime” — but also lots of people considerably older and younger, and at least one fussy baby. To my wife’s satisfaction, she was certainly not the only female in the crowd — although she may have been the only person dragged to the talk in exchange for stopping at the Jardin des Plantes’s wallaby exhibit on the way.

The talk got underway about fifteen minutes late. Stallman, still barefoot and consuming copious amounts of cola, spoke in nearly perfect, sophisticated French for more than two hours. For me, the most memorable points from his presentation included the following:

  • He interrupted the speaker who introduced him to remind him that he was “Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Stallman.” Stallman never actually completed a doctoral degree, but he is one guy who takes his honorary doctorates seriously.
  • He was quite blunt in his discussion of terrorism and its impact on France. “Terrorism causes few deaths” compared to tobacco and sugar, he stated plainly, with little apparent sympathy for people who are victims of terrorism (but with a little irony, because of all of the sugary soda he was consuming as he spoke). I thought that was bold, given that he was speaking to an audience which may well have included people personally affected by last year’s terrorist attacks in Paris — which, incidentally, were the reason why Stallman was giving the talk last weekend. It had originally been scheduled for November 15, 2015, two days after the Paris attacks, during which Stallman was in the city, he said.
  • He described the Linux kernel in 1991 as “proprietary software” (“un logiciel privateur”) because at that time it was not governed by the GPL license. That seemed a stretch to me; the original Linux license was informal and lacked legal sophistication, but it granted users the right to share the program as long as they did not try to make money off of it. And the source code was completely available.
  • Similarly, he was respectfully critical of Linus Torvalds — to whom he referred consistently, with an air of distance, as “Monsieur Torvalds.” He suggested that Torvalds’s only interest in making code free was to speed development. That also seemed unfair to me; Torvalds no doubt likes open source largely because he thinks it’s the best way to develop code, but there is no evidence that Torvalds does not also care about users’ or programmers’ freedom.
  • He said that the term “GNU/Linux” is better than “Linux” when referring to operating systems because the former assures the GNU developers due credit for their work in creating GNU software. It seems, then, that a significant part of the reason why Stallman is upset with efforts to write GNU out of the picture is that it means the project he founded misses out on the glory — which is different from being concerned primarily with the philosophical differences between the GNU and Linux projects.
  • As far as I could tell, Stallman tutoyered everyone. Maybe that was just because he is better versed in the informal second person tense in French, but I thought it was interesting because I suspected he might want to do away with the formal version of “you” — which is a marker of hierarchy and social inequality — for the same reasons that the French revolutionaries dispensed with singular “vous” in the 1790s.
  • I sensed that much of the content of Stallman’s talk was canned, since he made the same specific points, using the same language and metaphors, that he has raised in other speeches and in his writings. (He gives these talks a lot, so it makes sense that he sticks to a script.) Still, I was impressed by how clearly and concisely he was able to present complex information, and relate it to local French issues. I suspect that a large part of Stallman’s success in promoting free software over the past three decades owes to his talents in speaking and writing very effectively.
  • Stallman’s talk consisted largely of a basic outline of free software principles. But he compellingly wove his points into discussion of other issues, including online privacy, Internet censorship, government surveillance and digital rights management, showing how the idea of publicly sharing code connects organically to political and social concerns that don’t necessarily have anything directly to do with code itself. If the free software movement has a future now that open code has essentially become the default, it will be in bolstering support for the broader free culture movement.

If you’ve yet to see Stallman speak for yourself, you can find out when he’s next coming to a venue près de chez vous.

Tags: Cloud Service Providers Digital Service Providers MSPs VARs/SIs Open Source

Related


  • cloud data
    Your Cloud Data Is Protected, But Is It Portable?
    Why flexibility and containerization are the new must-haves for cloud data.
  • Spinoff Company
    IBM Names CEO of New Managed Services Spinoff
    The former IBM CFO is well-known to those within NewCo.
  • JEDI lightsaber
    AWS Still Chasing JEDI, Blasts Trump Administration Again
    AWS still wants to get JEDI from Microsoft. And there’s a new alliance in town. Plus, an update from iXsystems.
  • CEO Andy Jassy during keynote at AWS reInvent 2020
    AWS Partners Flooded with New Capabilities, Opportunities at re:Invent
    Channel head Doug Yeum introduced services, competencies and more ways for the channel to team with the cloud provider.

17 comments

  1. Avatar Lazza April 18, 2016 @ 8:45 pm
    Reply

    » with little apparent
    » with little apparent sympathy for people who are victims of terrorism

    Quite sick, but predictable. Stallman started an awesome movement with great ideals. Unfortunately, nowadays it seems his only interest is to push the FSF agenda at any cost, including bad mouthing Linux, Mr Torvalds, many popular distros such as Debian and Ubuntu… Of course not caring about anything else.

    This is a pity!

  2. Avatar Anonymous April 18, 2016 @ 10:13 pm
    Reply

    “” but there is no evidence
    “” but there is no evidence that Torvalds does not also care about users’ or programmers’ freedom “”

    I’ve been following news stories and blogs about Torvalds and Stallman for a couple decades now. I’m not prepared to direct you to any sources as I post this, but I would say – emphatically! – that there is abundant evidence out there that Torvalds does _not_ care about users’ freedom on the same level that Stallman does. Torvalds has explicitly advocated for policies and positions which limit the users freedom.

    • Avatar Christopher Tozzi April 19, 2016 @ 7:07 am
      Reply

      I think few people would
      I think few people would disagree that Torvalds and Stallman do not care about freedom “on the same level.” Certainly Stallman cares more. But Torvalds’s statements (e.g., Stallman “deserves a monument in his honor for giving birth to the GPL”) suggest that freedom does matter significantly to him. So does the fact that he decided to license Linux under the GPL in 1992. If he did not care about freedom, he might have gone with a BSD-style license, which would have made at least as much sense in the early 1990s (when BSD had just become usable on its own) as the GPL.

  3. Avatar Anonymous April 19, 2016 @ 2:08 am
    Reply

    Although he’s technically
    Although he’s technically right about terrorism being extremely rare, it doesn’t sound very politically correct when he says it. (non-PC things tend to upset people)

  4. Avatar Anonymous April 19, 2016 @ 3:48 am
    Reply

    That he keeps saying
    That he keeps saying “GNU/Linux” is crazy. Do a distribution with GNU software and can call it whatever you like. But linux is linux.

    • Avatar Anonymous July 10, 2016 @ 10:54 pm
      Reply

      There are already
      There are already distributions with their own names. Your comment does not make any sense. Also one OS using the Linux kernel but not GNU is Android. It comes usually with locked root and has lots of malware.

  5. Avatar Anonymous April 19, 2016 @ 8:41 am
    Reply

    THANK YOU! I’m so sick of
    THANK YOU! I’m so sick of this whole GNU/Linux BS. GNU is a project governed by RMS. Linux is governed by Linus Torvalds. RMS says that Linux is no part of the FSF or GNU, so for him to keep saying that it should be called GNU/Linux is completely contradictory to what he says he believes.

  6. Avatar Anonymous April 19, 2016 @ 1:27 pm
    Reply

    GNU/Linux. yes. Linux is only
    GNU/Linux. yes. Linux is only the kernel. The rest is GNU. It is only fair to call it GNU/Linux. Thank you GNU, thank you Linus

    • Avatar Anonymous April 19, 2016 @ 7:20 pm
      Reply

      I saw some slides in 2011
      I saw some slides in 2011 that estimated (in lines of code) an 8% of GNU in Ubuntu. Most likely that percentage has been reduced in 5 years. It’s not the rest by any means.

      Again, make a distribution with only GNU software and call it GNU/Linux. But modern OS are a lot more than that. It’s only fair to not exclude all the other software. Debian Linux is not GNU/Linux.

      I have respect for Richard Stallman ideology and work, but when you hear him talking about Linux and Linus you can feel the resent.

      • Avatar Christopher Tozzi April 19, 2016 @ 9:01 pm
        Reply

        I have seen the 8 percent
        I have seen the 8 percent figure before, going back several years, but I have found not a reliable source for it. Not sure I buy it. Circa 1999 the figures for a complete distribution were: 3 percent code from Linux kernel, 30 percent from GNU and the rest from other projects (BSD stuff, etc.). (According to a March 1999 Wired article.) So for GNU to be only 8 percent now is a big departure.

        I can believe the kernel now accounts for a higher portion, though, since Linux has become much bigger since the 1990s. I am not sure that GNU programs have done the same.

        Obviously this is a hard thing to measure, anyway. Do you count total lines of code? Individual programs? Include libraries or not?

        And Stallman would no doubt point out that a lot of the crucial tools GNU provides are not necessarily in the distribution. For example GCC and GDB are not in Ubuntu by default but you certainly can’t build Ubuntu without them. Going back to early days Stallman was emphatic about how Linux the kernel would never have existed if GNU didn’t provide Torvalds the free tools he needed to program and compile it — which I think is very true; commercial assemblers, compilers etc. at the time were way beyond Torvalds’s reach.

    • Avatar Anonymous April 20, 2016 @ 10:16 am
      Reply

      “The rest is GNU”.
      No, it

      “The rest is GNU”.

      No, it isn’t. Although several important pieces of software belong to the GNU project, some others don’t.

      Just because it is GPL or Free Software it doesn’t come from the GNU project.

      Still, Stallman considers that GNU’s packages are more relevant to the general system that (say) a desktop environment or a media player, which is the reason why he considers it should be called GNU/Linux.

      • Avatar Anonymous August 18, 2016 @ 1:08 am
        Reply

        Oh just shut up you
        Oh just shut up you nonsensical bumbling fool of today’s interwebs generation. Go play with your Samsung or Iphone recyclable toy and leave the technology wizards out of your narcissistic trolling schedule.

  7. Avatar Anonymous April 19, 2016 @ 7:28 pm
    Reply

    ” The rest is GNU.” KDE is
    ” The rest is GNU.” KDE is GNU? Really? How about mono (ok, that might as well just go). gcc used to be GNU, but I suspect Red Had (who have now owned it for decades) almost certainly haven’t ever called it GNU. It might have started out as GNU+Linux, but that was a long time ago.

    The only reason now to call anything GNU/Linux is to compare it against Android (which as far as I know is non-GNU/Linux).

    • Avatar Anonymous April 20, 2016 @ 11:34 am
      Reply

      Thanks FSF (RMS) thanks
      Thanks FSF (RMS) thanks Linus, Thanks every one who has contributed.

  8. Avatar Carney June 27, 2016 @ 2:01 pm
    Reply

    The problem with dismissing
    The problem with dismissing terrorism as causing fewer deaths than smoking or sugar is that it ignores human psychology. By our inborn nature we tend to fear risk more when it is imposed by others than when we choose it; more when it is concentrated in time and place than distributed; more when it is a result of malice rather than accident or indifference; more when it is unusual or unnatural than when it is ordinary or natural. The nature of terrorism is that it falls on the more frightening side of all these dynamics, and that is the very reason for its existence.

    To go further, dismissing the reactions of others to terror is a form of boasting of your own superiority to them, of denigrating human beings for reacting like humans with emotions who experience more distress and suffering when a young family is killed by terror than when a hundred elderly people die in their 70s rather than their 80s because they used tobacco.

  9. Avatar jackparker December 21, 2016 @ 7:20 am
    Reply

    Cosmetic breast augmentation
    Cosmetic breast augmentation endoscopic approach is aesthetic breast augmentation endoscopic application of modern equipment magnified crisp structure chest cavity, making dissection padded breasts and put the bag inside an easy and accurate , less invasive.
    obatherbaluntukmemperbaikifungsihati.blogspot.com

  10. Avatar Anonymous June 12, 2017 @ 12:33 pm
    Reply

    Stallman knows nothing about
    Stallman knows nothing about France , French citizens or their history and should just shut up .

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your Channel Futures account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • Dell Technologies Expands PowerProtect Portfolio, Embraces Data Protection Priorities
  • Wipro, Navisite, 2nd Watch Bolster Cloud Service Portfolios
  • IBM Cloud for Telecommunications to Rely on Integrators Right Away
  • WANdisco Partners Get First Formalized Partner Program

Galleries

View all

New, Changing Partner Programs: AWS, Tech Data, Avaya, Verizon

January 11, 2021

Industry Perspectives

View all

The Importance of Being Security-Centric

January 22, 2021

Cyberattacks: Threat Hunters Conquer Unpredictability with 3 Measures

January 21, 2021

The Right Data Migration Tool Helps Schools Move to Cloud During COVID Crisis

January 19, 2021

Webinars

View all

Your Network Perimeter Has Changed

February 18, 2021

In Case of Emergency: The Importance of Proactive Critical Event Management

February 23, 2021

How Managed Hosting Providers Thrive with the Alternative Cloud

February 24, 2021

White Papers

View all

Product Brief: Kaseya VSA Integrated Workflows with BMS and IT Glue

January 26, 2021

Why Subscription Business Model

January 15, 2021

The Ultimate MSP Guide to Sales Efficiency

January 14, 2021

Upcoming Events

View all

Channel Partners Virtual

March 2, 2021 - March 4, 2021

Channel Partners Conference & Expo

November 1, 2021 - November 4, 2021

Videos and Fastchats

View all

FASTCHAT: How SOAR Eliminates Security Challenges and Elevates Service Provider Revenues

January 6, 2021

Happy Holidays from Channel Partners & Channel Futures!

December 21, 2020

FASTCHAT: How Old, Unpatched Technologies Are Creating New Security Threats for MSPs and Their Customers

December 3, 2020

Twitter

ChannelFutures

Product Brief: Kaseya VSA Integrated Workflows with BMS and IT Glue dlvr.it/RrPJWz https://t.co/qFvS3o0XIZ

January 26, 2021
ChannelFutures

.@SaaSAlerts_hires @KaseyaCorp vet as new CEO. #MSP #cybersecurity dlvr.it/RrNyQx https://t.co/XzKxQbmrhr

January 26, 2021
ChannelFutures

.@untangle_inc partners say #cybersecurity spending will increase this year due to media coverage of cyberattacks.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

January 26, 2021
ChannelFutures

Native @MicrosoftTeams integration coming to @SAP apps. dlvr.it/RrKz34 https://t.co/tM7SQaaOHl

January 26, 2021
ChannelFutures

#Biden, @CompTIA both launch big #cybersecurity efforts (separately). dlvr.it/RrKr54 https://t.co/hXEw2CGUMZ

January 25, 2021
ChannelFutures

.@HPE appoints new head of worldwide distribution. #cloud dlvr.it/RrKJLT https://t.co/FW0OUTDJFF

January 25, 2021
ChannelFutures

Following its acquisition of SAP specialist Pioneer B1, new @SapphireSystems GM reveals "buy and build" growth stra… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

January 25, 2021
ChannelFutures

.@exabeam, @VulcanCyber, @ntti3, @Vectra_AI, @Lookout and @valtixinc give high marks to @POTUS' federal… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

January 22, 2021

MSSP Insider

Newsletters and Updates

Sign up for The Channel Report, Channel Futures Update, MSP 501 Newsletter and more.

Live Channel Events

Get the latest information on the next industry-leading Channel Partners event.

Channel Partners Online

Want more? Find more channel news and analysis on our sister site, Channel Partners.

Media Kit And Advertising

Want to reach our audience? Access our media kit

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • Channel Partners Online
  • Channel Partners Events
  • MSP 501
  • MSSP Insider
  • IoT World Today
  • Webhostingtalk

WORKING WITH US

  • Contact
  • About us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter

FOLLOW Channel Futures ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2021 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X