[sllug-members]: Pioneer day: Most important/influential OpenSourcePioneers???

[Scott Patten]

Whoa.  Nice argument for RMS but I think this has to be the only place where
one might see a debate over which religious figure best represents one's
favorite Open Source hero.  I think this might be a sign that you have too
much time on your hands. ;-)

On 7/28/06, Stuart Jansen <sjansen at buscaluz.org> wrote:
>
> On Fri, 2006-07-28 at 15:44 -0500, Smith, Jeff wrote:
> > I would like to cast an anti-vote for Richard Stallman.  To use Utah
> > Pioneer terminology he is the Mountain Meadow Massacre of Open Source.
> > Yes he is a part of the movement but IMHO he does more harm then good.
>
> That is hardly a fair assessment. Yes, he can be a bit extremist and
> unusual at times, but it is impossible to overlook his contributions.
>
> 1) The GPL. Frankly, for the GPL alone RMS deserves a position in the
> pantheon of F/OSS notables. Put simply, it is a work of genius. The
> treaty terms under which competitors can safely contribute to a common
> project. The promise that guarantees my hours of volunteer labor will
> not be stolen by greedy people.
>
> Say what you will about the merits of GPL v. BSD v. Artistic, etc. you
> have to recognize its importance.
>
> 2) The GNU project. Next time you use sed -i or grep --color=yes or any
> number of comfortable core command line utilities, remember to thank the
> GNU project which RMS created.
>
> 3) GCC. I would like to draw special attention to one of the GNU
> projects, that compiler extraordinaire. If you need me to explain why
> GCC is so important, you're not qualified to judge RMS.
>
> 4) emacs. Love it or hate it, you have to recognize its importance.
>
> 5) The FSF. I respect RMS for his far sighted version and willingness to
> create something greater than himself. If you're a F/OSS geek, how can
> you think the FSF is anything other than a force for good?
>
> 6) GPLv3. I have been impressed watching RMS and the FSF working with
> the world to define the next version of the GPL. Many are worried about
> how it will turn out, myself included, but the FSF seems to be listening
> and I get less worried each time I learn more.
>
> A more accurate LDS analogy would not be the Mormon Meadows Massacre, it
> would be Brigham Young. You seem to be arguing that Brigham Young was
> bad for Mormonism because he the the massacre happen and because he
> allowed polygamy to continue. Have you considered that maybe you are the
> one that is wrong? Not Brigham Young, and not RMS?
>
> --
> Stuart Jansen              e-mail/jabber: sjansen at buscaluz.org
>                            google talk:   stuart.jansen at gmail.com
>
> "However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at
> the results." -- Winston Churchill
>
>
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