FSF Responds to LinuxWorld in Boston
RMS: The Free Software Movement and the GNU/Linux Operating System
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Submitted by root.
on 2005-02-01 12:35 PM.
Visiting Bolivia provided an opportunity for me to spend a week with
Tania. I had better explain that Tania isn't just my friend;
she's my sweetheart. Since she lives in Colombia, it isn't easy for
us to spend time together. I used frequent flier miles to get her a
ticket to Bolivia while I was to be there. In arranging this trip, I
agreed to go speak in Santa Cruz provided either I went there for a
very short time or Tania could go with me. The day before going to
Bolivia was when I learned that the trip to Santa Cruz had been
arranged for both of us together.
Submitted by root.
on 2005-01-31 03:28 PM.
Jim Prendergast's recent article mistakenly called me a "leader in the open source community". While I appreciate the praise that might be read into that expression, it is not the case: I do not advocate "open source" and never did. I founded the Free Software Movement in 1984. "Free", here refers to freedom, not price; specifically the freedom to redistribute and change the software you use. With free software, the users control the software; with non-free software, the developer has control of the software and its users.
Submitted by root.
on 2005-01-18 11:53 AM.
This week I met Irene Pepperberg and Alex, the African gray parrot that she has taught to understand and use a large number of words.
Submitted by root.
on 2005-01-10 05:51 PM.
On Dec 26 I went home to Boston from Spain. About 40 minutes before
arrival time, my laptop display died completely. It had previously
shown a tendency to turn off occasionally, but suspending and
unsuspending had fixed it before. This time no; not even shutting
down the machine and removing the batteries made the screen function.
I began to wonder how I could get any further work done until I
obtained a new machine. Would connecting it to an external monitor
produce a useful display?
Submitted by root.
on 2005-01-10 05:49 PM.
I started writing this in the station in Rabat, after getting off the
train from Marrakech. You could call it the Marrakech Express, or the
Marrakech Local, because there's only one kind of train between
Marrakech and Casablanca or Rabat. The trains are European, perhaps
30 years old--enough to seem less than new, but not enough to be
quaint.
Submitted by root.
on 2005-01-10 05:48 PM.
My short trip this month began with speeches in Santander and Bilbao,
Spain. Traveling to Santander gave me a chance to see the beautiful
rock-surrounded beaches; we also had time for a brief trip to the
mountains of Asturias to the west.
Submitted by root.
on 2005-01-10 05:46 PM.
I returned to Venezuela after Mexico, for a conference called Artists
and Intellectuals in Defense of Humanity. On Saturday, our main
activity was a meeting where President Chavez would speak. I had
lunch that day with Sergeant-Major Torres, who has converted the
Venezuelan Army's servers to GNU/Linux, and his wife. Since we've
become friends, I encouraged him to come back to the hotel and try to
get into the meeting too, figuring the security would probably ok his
entry, and they did.
Submitted by root.
on 2005-01-10 05:43 PM.
I spent a week in Venezuela, giving a speech and some interviews at an
event which invited speakers from all across Latin America. During
the event, the state oil company PDVSA announced its decision to
switch 100% to free software. Their decision is not based on
convenience or cost; it is based on sovereignty. Their computers used
to be handled by a US company, SAIC. When opponents of President
Chavez tried to drive him from office by shutting down oil protection,
the US government helped out by telling SAIC to prevent them from
using their computers. PDVSA therefore knows from experience that
using non-free software means you are at the mercy of the developers,
and has decided to solve the problem for good and all.
Submitted by root.
on 2005-01-10 05:42 PM.
It was horribly hot in Denpasar when I arrived, just as it had been in
Java, Malaysia, and Singapore. But I expected it to be comfortable in
Ubud, which is at a higher elevation. I arranged to stay in a really
nice home-stay place, where I stayed the previous time, around 7 years
ago. I was comfortable there without air conditioning on my previous
visit.
Submitted by root.
on 2005-01-10 05:40 PM.
I was invited to Australia so as to speak at the Builder conference,
which was canceled shortly before I got there (but they had already
bought my tickets). This did not mean the visit was wasted, since I
had arranged 9 other speeches. The Australian Senate had attached
some conditions to the US-Australia Free Trade Agreement, and it
looked like the US might reject the treaty as a result, which would
give Australia a second chance to escape. I arranged to give several
speeches about the danger of software patents.
