[ale] Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2000 15:24:00 -0500

[Jeff Hubbs]

> I think he is more of a genius with blinders on.  I don't happen to
> agree with a lot of his opinions, but I think he is an incredibly
> insightful person.  I try to read all his pronouncements of this sort
> just to try to see how he thinks.  Yes, he has an idee fixe about
> software freedom, but that is both his weakness and his strength.  If
> he hadn't been so obsessed and consumed then Linux probably would not
> exist as we know it.

I'm inclined to agree.  I downloaded a phone interview with him and I've
read a bunch of his stuff, and I think that the most important thing he has
done is reacquaint us with a notion of "freedom" that is both modern *and*
antique but still highly relevant.  We have our movies and TV shows that are
based on notions of freedom and the lack thereof, but RMS is talking about
freedom at a very personal and interactive level - one that comes into play
when geeks and near-geeks like us make decisions like "what will I do
today?"  

When you work with closed COTS software all the time, what you find yourself
getting used to are all the barriers to what you're allowed to do.  Buy NT
Server and Win98 in your organization and you are limited right off the bat
as to how many machine you can put those products on.  If you buy one NT
Server license, then you are not supposed to install it on more than one
machine.  It *harms* MS not a whit for you to install it on additional
machines, but it does *fail to enrich them as much as they want to be
enriched.*  One way to model this situation in your head is that with MS and
like products, you pay money in exchange for freedom in piecemeal form.  

- Jeff
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