<< The initial announcement of the GNU project is dated 27-Sep-83.
Stallman received the McArthur foundation award for $250K in 1990.
He also received the Grace Hopper award for $5000 in 1990. >>
Exact dates don't matter. The fact is, he has been supported in his ideology
both by public largesse and by his very well-compensated skills. He would
have had a very different perspective if he had the choice between eating
and working on GNU.
<< I do not see why people in grad school should be regarded as having
lower financial constraints than say a game designer? Does one not
deserve families and homes? >>
Having seen a wide spectrum of both academe, I can say with conviction that
those in academe are at less financial risk, on average, and have more
luxury to pursue an idea for its own pure sake. No, grad students aren't
wealthy; in many ways, they are near to indentured servants. But the whole
academic system would collapse if they all had to choose between learning
and eating. The system is designed to keep them poor, but able to struggle
through and finish. And struggling through and finishing entails pursuing
exactly the sort of pure ideas that those in industry usually cannot afford
to pursue. Sorry if it's a shock to you, but academia IS a sheletered
economy. The whole system fails if significant fractions of the student
populace start failing.
Compare that to industry where there is NO shelter; the odds of failing are
vastly higher than the odds of succeeding, and no one but you has a vested
interest in trying to salvage you. Persons in this realm have relatively
less freedom to pursue and idea just for its purity.
<< There are deadlines in academe. Whether it is a term project
due date or a conference submission deadline, you miss it you
are in big trouble. You usually don't even have any say as
to when the deadline is. >>
Usually? Try industry, where the average worker NEVER has any say about the
deadline. And the consequences of a missed deadline in industry are so much
larger than those of a missed deadline in academe, there's no comparison. A
small sector of academe -- those seeking tenure and thus truly under
"publish or perish" -- see worse personal consequences from missed deadlines
than do those in business. But you will almost never see an entire academic
institution or even a school or department cease to exist because of
deadlines missed. It happens in industry all the time.
<< Stallman and Torvalds toiled for many years for little or no
financial reward. In fact, they toiled in an age when there
was little or no HOPE of significant financial reward from free
software. To even mention them in the same message as one about
recouping financial benefits really irks me. >>
Good. Some on this list seem to take great pride in irking those with whom
they disagree, choosing to use irking and scorn as tactics to try to enforce
their form of Thought Policing. Maybe if we do a little irking back, they
will recognize that there is no place for this in civil discussion. If not,
the list will degenrate into a place where nothing useful ever happens.
Martin
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