[TriLUG] Gnome foundation results

[Marc Johnson]

I guess I'd feel better about Mr. Stallman if I ever heard him offer some 
practical advice to people like me.

I use emacs, and I am very appreciative of his efforts in creating it. I 
have used a good number of GNU tools, and again, I am most appreciative of 
his work and of the FSF.

But when he implicitly castigates me as immoral because I earn a living 
writing proprietary software, all I can say is that I live in the world that 
is, not the world that could be. I have a mortgage amd a monthly car 
payment. If I ignore the electric bill, the phone bill, etc. etc., I will 
lose those services. The grocery store will not give me food -- they expect 
to be paid for it. If I fill up my car without paying for the gas, I will be 
arrested.

I would love to be able to write software and give it away ... but then who 
will give me the money I need to live on? I do not hear Mr. Stallman 
offering me, or people like me, any useful advice.

I greatly admire Mr. Stallman for all he and the FSF have done. I have 
benefited greatly from their work. But he is an obstructive and 
counterproductive influece when dealing with people who have to live in the 
world as it is, who have bills to pay and the only way they can pay those 
bills is to be paid for writing software.

The bottom line is, it is not enough to say "no", as he does. An 
alternative, a real world alternative, has to be offered, and there he comes 
up short.

It is regrettable that the Gnome foundation will not be taking advantage of 
his unquestioned genius. And it is well that they will not have him on the 
board, for I fear that he would spend far too much time pushing his own 
agenda, and that would not be to their advantage.




A stroke of the brush does not guarantee art from the bristles.
- Kosh Naranek


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