

Matz wins the 2011 Free Software Award - ab9
https://www.fsf.org/news/2011-free-software-awards-announced

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kinleyd
Congratulations Matz. You deserve every accolade and recognition for your
great contributions to our tech world.

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getsat
I wonder what RMS thinks of the fact that Ruby recently switched from a GPL-
like license (Ruby License) to BSD.

At any rate, congrats to Matz!

~~~
jballanc
From the FSF's own list of GPL-compatible licenses:

> License of Ruby (#Ruby)

> This is a free software license, compatible with the GPL via an explicit
> dual-licensing clause.

~~~
getsat
... yes? That was my point. They switched from a GPL-like license to a BSD
one.

~~~
jballanc
The dual-licensing nature of the Ruby license has always meant that you could
distribute it in a BSD-like fashion (with an extra restriction on naming).
They simply moved the "or" part of the license from GPL to BSD. Ruby was never
distributed in a GPL-like-only fashion. The changeover is mostly a non-issue.

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demetris
Interesting that the name of Linus Torvalds is not in the list of previous
winners.

~~~
cube13
Not really. Linus isn't a Free Software zealot in the way that the FSF is.
He's too pragmatic for that.

EDIT: Downvotes? Really? Linus isn't a Free Software advocate in the way that
the FSF wants their people to be. He's a serious open source and GPLv2
advocate, but that's where it stops. He is not the kind of person that the FSF
would give this award to.

~~~
twelvechairs
(in case you don't know) I think the downvotes will be for the implication of
the FSF being unpragmatic zealots. Obviously many don't share this view.

~~~
falling
If they don’t share that view, I think they fail to understand what the FSF is
all about.

I’m fairly certain RMS itself would agree that the ideal of freedom they fight
and advocate for is to be followed without compromising to practical
inconveniences.

~~~
erikpukinskis
Just because you don't see the conveniences in having a full Free Software
stack doesn't mean they don't exist.

~~~
falling
What? Of course there are. That is not what I meant. If you choose to use a
full Free Software stack, you'll have to face some inconveniences: fewer
hardware choices, different or unavailable software and codecs, etc.

Easy examples: if you choose to run a completely free system most of the
videos on the web today are unavailable to you (even counting the few YouTube
converted to WebM), as are essentially all games on any platform. Also, you
cannot have a smartphone (I think even OpenMoko needs a binary blob). These
are inconveniences.

RMS thinks freedom has higher value than having the ability to choose whatever
hardware you want, so he picked the only laptop available with free firmware.

------
JohnnyFlash
So the FSF award is a tea towel? Grreeaattt...

It is nice that Matz was acknowledged for his work but I feel that the FSF is
increasingly out of touch. Instead of campaigning against closed source
applications I think they would be far more effective providing support and
direction to open source projects.

The difference between open source and closed source commercial software is
often polish and general direction. Helping take open source projects to the
next level and showcasing them would be far more effective than bemoaning
Windows and DRM.

Take MS Office. Libre Office can do pretty much everything everything MS
Office can do and it doesn't cost anything to install. The FSF should be
asking questions about why Libre Office hasn't made a bigger dent in the
Office suite market and then help solve any issues which are slowing uptake.

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websymphony
Site went down. Here is the cached link:

[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:www.fsf...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:www.fsf.org/news/2011-free-
software-awards-announced)

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sunkencity
The picture of Matz, Stallman and the Quilt is priceless.

I like that this award goes to Matz, good choice!

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reddit_clone
Will make a nice panel for Heroes.

RMS is pumping up to belch blue lighting-balls and Matz is puckering up to
teleport the hell outta there.

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shepbook
What is the actual physical award? Is it some kind of flag or quilt? Hard to
make it out in the picture.

~~~
tjr
Yes, it has historically been some sort of quilt. See also:

<http://www.gnu.org/award/prior-years.html>

------
BobertK
I'm only about a month in with Ruby\Rails, but I like it a lot and really like
the community I am finding. Nice.

------
javajosh
The prize doesn't come with any money, but the winner gets free software for
life! ;)

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why-el
is the website down?

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maximumsteve
Mr. Stallman is looking charming as usual.

~~~
Alterlife
You've been downvoted to hell... but why?

Is there a taboo on commenting on his looks? This is the worst pic I've ever
seen of him.

I get that this is a part of the unique 'character' which produced the free
software movement, but after a point it hurts his message. I wish he'd groom
himself a little - at least when he's on stage.

~~~
whyenot
I can only speak for myself, but the reason he is being downvoted is because
circle-jerky comments about RMS's appearance add absolutely nothing
interesting or insightful to the discussion. The internet already has one
reddit. I don't think we need to turn HN into another one.

~~~
redthrowaway
At the risk of getting meta, "This comment belongs on reddit, not HN" is just
as circle-jerky.

