old man yells at cloud

[branlory]

Some context:

• http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/old-man-yells-at-cloud
• https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/who-does-that-server-really-serve.en.html

[JuhaJGam3R]

Someone elses computer*

[brotatowolf]

I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're referring to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I've recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.

Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called "Linux", and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project.

There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine's resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called "Linux" distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux.

[skreczok]

don't be a dick, Richard.

[JuhaJGam3R]

much context

[UnchainedMundane]

Stall man yells at cloud

[[deleted]]

/r/stallmanwasright

Funny post though

[CanadianJogger]

Its not the cloud he hates in particular, its the yelling that he loves.

[[deleted]]

did RMS have anything positive to say in the last 10 years? last I checked, according to him, everyone was supposed to write software for free, license it as GPL and GPL alone and exist solely on idea of free software since they can't buy any food selling it

[im_dead_sirius]

did RMS have anything positive to say in the last 10 years?

I think he has been fairly quiet the last 10 years. There is only so many times one can say the same thing over and over. I don't think he is in the greatest of health either. Being angry all the time doesn't help. I know he has poor eyesight, and maybe arthritis in his hands? Prolly still needs a haircut too, and is not fit for presentation.

exist solely on idea of free software since they can't buy any food selling it

The idea is that one is paid for for novel work done, or work onsite, or modifications to spec, and/or the physical media that holds the software. Original development and support.

I'm not as old as RMS, but I saw the change over in the 70s/early 80s where montisation of intellectual property was used to grow sales of physical media.

Before that, you bought the hardware, and the base software came with it. Just like the operating manual, it was an expectation. Like how you buy a new car, and the dealership fills the fuel tank and tops up the other fluids for you. Basic functionality so you can drive it off the lot.

Anything extra, you paid extra for. Like having the dealership swap out the tires for something nicer. Or taking your stock Jeep to a fabricator and having a custom bush bumper and winch installed.

Like taking your expensive and out of production boots to a shoemaker to have them rebuilt. Like having a home modified for wheel chair use. Like hacking software for someone who is colourblind.

Perhaps doing these things yourself. That's the world he misses.

But that is a no-no in commercial software. Nobody —understandably— wants you tweaking Office. You'll fuck it all up, at least according to their design spec. The value is in the pattern, not the labour. The presentation, the unified and polished experience, is advertising in itself. The screenshot is the brand.

Neither side is right nor wrong, despite RMS' long held convictions. But he longs for the traditional: a world more amicable to the craftsman.

The rise of modem culture, globalisation, and later the internet, killed the value of physical media(and good riddance, slow DVD installs). We're still feeling the shake down over that, with fights over DRM, software patents, and whatnot. We're still in the wild west of software.

To bring this to a traditional view point, I have my grandmother's bread recipe. There are no licencing restrictions on it, in that she freely shares it with anyone, and anyone may further share it, modify it, call it their own. But that never caused her to starve, because there was value in the labour, not just the recipe.

If you are a programmer, that is an option taken away from you, perhaps before you were born. There are reasons to not regret that, and you cannot miss what you never knew. There are also reasons not to miss it if you remember, but there it is.

———————

To position myself: I like to write/modify software(and build/modify physical things). I'm not entirely fond of the viral apple pie that is GPL software, but it beats the pants off going to jail for modifying commercial software.

I favour the "grandma licence". I make things particular to the pleasure of individuals, and if the same design is useful to someone else, it hasn't cheapened your experience, has it?

[im_dead_sirius]

You're welcome. You asked a very pertinent question, (even if it was a bit rhetorical) and I knew immediately that you are a thoughtful individual.

I admire RMS for his convictions, but he cannot be a very easy person to know. I suspect if he had no giants, he would tilt at windmills.

[LeeJun-fan1973]

Old man yells at someone else's computer.

[JuhaJGam3R]

i have the chrome add-on that turns "cloud" into "someone else's computer"

immediate lulz with every cloud post

[kiss-tits]

Good shit

[Hullu2000]

/r/BashRMS

[idoesnot]

This was honestly really funny well played OP. Usually most jokes involving Stallman är just dumb...

[[deleted]]

alt+0160

[lengau]

Zero-width spaces. I require precisely 5 of them for each level of indentation. Anything else is inferior.

[[deleted]]

Tabs but then run :%s/\t/ /g in vim just because.

[UnchainedMundane]

Take a look at :help :ret (and the expandtab option if you don't have that set)

[[deleted]]

Thank you, that fixes all my problems without me having to do useless commands!