On Tue, 22 Aug 2000, Martin L. Shoemaker wrote:
> Right. Don't forget:
>
> 1. When Stallman first pioneered the GNU concept, he was the beneficiary of
> a MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant for a whole PILE o' money. That gave him
> more freedom to experiment. He also had (has) a lucrative consulting
> business (where, to his credit, he does rigorously adhere to his
> knowledge-must-be-free principles).
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.
> 2. When Torvalds first created Linux, he was a student, with relatively
> large amounts of free time and low financial constraints. He kept the effort
> going long past his student years, of course; but now he's also working on
> proprietary code (at that six-figure rate, clearly) for former Microsoft
> honcho Paul Allen.
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?
> 3. Some of the best open source code comes from folks in the sheltered
> groves of academe. With less pressure of the Dreaded Deadline, they can
> really pour themselves into the work.
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.
> Quality work takes time and effort, open or not. Talent and inspiration and
> discipline as well. There is often a small group of people who can afford to
> spare these scarce resources simply for fun or for acclaim. But I see no
> reason to exclude from Open Gaming those people who can only justify the
> effort if there's some chance to recoup their investment and maybe bring in
> a little profit.
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.
The ideology came first. Then the software. The business models
and successful companies didn't show up until many years later.
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