I'm not going to argue about academia vs business. That's opinion
and I don't really care if people think I have it so good.
I will argue about falsehoods being spread. Just because some in
the OGF community don't want to walk the difficult path Stallman
took, doesn't mean we should be making light of his sacrifices.
It looks bad on all of us if we let this kind of sentiment stand
without challenge.
>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.
Exact dates do matter. Stallman didn't receive his McArthur Foundation
Award until seven years after he started GNU. The McArthur Foundation
is a private foundation. Stallman has not been supporting his ideology
on "public largesse" or given a "whole PILE o' money" when he first
pioneered the GNU concept.
Before the awards, he paid his bills by consulting. He only took jobs
that allowed him to give away the code. I would wildly estimate there
aren't a lot of firms willing to accept that condition in the 80s.
While he didn't have to choose between eating or working on GNU, he
did have to choose between having a much more comfortable life or
giving us free software.
I repeat. It looks bad on ALL of us to let false statements stand
about someone else's lifetime of work.
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For more information, please link to www.opengamingfoundation.org
