I forgot to add to my RMS post that I did have a chance to have a talk with Frank Palmeri of the Capital District LUG. Since we had to wait for some time, we talked about our LUG's, Free Software and why people use Linux. He expressed interest in coming to our meeting tonight. Here is his post to the CDLUG list ( thus this is really a cross post ) as you see much better then my 3 lines ;-)
I went to see Richard Stallman @ SUNY Albany last night. It was quite an experience. The talk was supposed to start at 1600 but he kept us waiting. Finally at about 1620 this long haired guy ambles down the corridor and walks up to the stage. You could tell right away he was "different" :) First thing he says to the crowd, is, "Where's the bathroom and where is there an electrical outlet?" Kind of unconventional for a keynote speaker :) So he goes to the bathroom, comes back to the podium, takes off his shoes (!), and then starts the talk. On a little table was some drinks for him, including a couple bottles of Dasani water, which he tells us he can't drink because it's made by Coca-Cola and they have union leaders in South America assassinated. Wow. Most of the talk was about the whole free software movement, and how it's really not Linux, but GNU/Linux. He mentioned Torvalds many times, and clearly he's perturbed about the fame Linus has. He also will not use, recommend, or sanction *any* commercial software at all, which is a problem for me as I have an nVidia driver on my Ubuntu box. He would not be happy with that. At the end he put on this robe and a hat made from a platter from an ancient hard drive and did this whole eMacs riff, ragging on VI of course. It was quite entertaining, as was he. I came away feeling that he's fighting the good fight, but most people just want to get their work done with their computers and don't really care what they run as long as it works. Would it be better if all software was free and modifiable, and we had the source code for everything, and Microsoft didn't have the gaul to charge $35 just to ask a question? Of course but it's never going to happen. I had the pleasure of meeting and sitting next to Joe Apuzzo from the Mid-Hudson Valley Linux Users Group (www.mhvlug.org). Joe told me about some exciting programs his group is having, and about a Debian conference in NYC later this year. Joe said he'd post to this list the details when he gets a moment. All in all a fun way to spend a winter night. Stallman's site is http://stallman.org/ -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Frank L. "Cranky Frankie" Palmeri Guilderland, NY, USA Risible Riding Raconteur & Writer “A man’s errors are his portals of discovery.” - James Joyce - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CDLUG-General mailing list [email protected] http://cdlug.net/mailman/listinfo/cdlug-general
_______________________________________________ Mid-Hudson Valley Linux Users Group http://mhvlug.org http://mhvlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mhvlug Upcoming Meetings (6pm - 8pm) MHVLS Auditorium Mar 3 - Sahana and 7 Years of MHVLUG Celebration Apr 7 - Nagios May 5 - Android
