[LINK] itNews: Stallman Jobs Jobs

[Roger Clarke]

Stallman blasted over Jobs eulogy
itNews
Oct 11, 2011 7:54 AM (25 minutes ago)

Software activist Richard M. Stallman has caused a storm after a post 
on his personal blog spoke ill of Steve Jobs post-death.

The post, made late last week, stated that while "nobody deserves to 
have to die... we all deserve the end of Jobs' malign influence on 
people's computing".

"Unfortunately, that influence continues despite his absence," Stallman wrote.

"We can only hope his successors, as they attempt to carry on his 
legacy, will be less effective."

Stallman is best known for launching the GNU project and founding the 
Free Software Foundation.

His comments on Jobs led ReadWriteWeb to call for a "new voice" to 
represent the free software movement.

The blog said Stallman's personal comments undermined his 
professional credibility.

However, not all commentators rebuked Stallman. The LA Times wrote 
that Stallman's critique of Jobs' business model "had some merit" and 
that his point "deserves to be heeded".


Here's Stallman's whole posting:

http://stallman.org/archives/2011-jul-oct.html#06_October_2011_%28Steve_Jobs%29

06 October 2011 (Steve Jobs)

Steve Jobs, the pioneer of the computer as a jail made cool, designed 
to sever fools from their freedom, has died.

As Chicago Mayor Harold Washington said of the corrupt former Mayor 
Daley, "I'm not glad he's dead, but I'm glad he's gone." Nobody 
deserves to have to die - not Jobs, not Mr. Bill, not even people 
guilty of bigger evils than theirs. But we all deserve the end of 
Jobs' malign influence on people's computing.

Unfortunately, that influence continues despite his absence. We can 
only hope his successors, as they attempt to carry on his legacy, 
will be less effective.


[Declaration:  I'm both a Mac user, 1984-2012ish, and a (not *quite* 
as longstanding) supporter of open source and open content.  Richard 
believes I'm hopelessly ethically compromised.  I just think I'm 
confused.]


-- 
Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/
			            
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
                    Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/

Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University