BYTE: What are you going to do when you are done with the GNU system?
Stallman: I'm not sure. Sometimes I think that what I'll go on to do is the same thing in other areas of software.
He's 60 this year. He was crying on a staircase this year in Spain. Someone stole his laptop.
Except for the kernel, pretty much everything I use is GNU or was inspired by GNU. From the coreutils to the window environment, passing through the compiler, most linux systems are half GNU.
Besides, we need activists like Stallman in the same way we need activists like Peta or activists like Greenpeace. They might be too radical and close-minded, but they always have a point; they force society to rethink some of its values, and act as whistle-blowers for some injustices that might go unnoticed.
Stallman is league different from those, he contributes both valuable product and coherent legal analysis. His only harm comes in a occasional bitter verbal lash at his opponents, and how his moral superiority makes compromisers feel uncomfortable.
Is this an attempt at mockery? Please, let me be the next 60-year-old with my code powering half of the planet, a philosophy thirty years ahead of its time, touring the world, with my laptop stolen en route to my next talk.
also his passport. If I understand correctly, he was distressed he can't get to Brasil for his next talk.
Also future talks will also be affected. Imagine how bad it is to lose your passport in a foreign country. Instead of catching the flight next day you have a visit at the embassy and a lot of waiting.
Instead of catching the flight next day you have a visit at the embassy
FYI, it would technically be a consulate which helps someone whose passport has been stolen; embassies deal with relations between governments, not with providing assistance to individuals.
(It's a common point of confusion, but one which might be useful to have straight if your passport ever gets stolen!)
He's 60 this year. He was crying on a staircase this year in Spain. Someone stole his laptop.