__/ [John Bailo] on Monday 12 December 2005 16:19 \__
> mlw wrote:
>
>> So, in summary, don't agree with him all the time, and I'm not sure I'd
>> like him if I really got to know him, and I'm sure he'd piss me off from
>> time to time, but failure to acknowledge his contribution to all our lives
>> is the most idiotic thing possible.
>
> Richard M. Stallman is a genius.
>
> Pure and simple. And that has been acknowledged far and wide.
>
> He is also a brilliant business person -- though he would probably shy from
> the term.
>
> He did the work of an entire industry all by himself.
>
> He reinvented software licensing.
>
> RMS created a suite of software and tools whose underpinnings let's me read
> and respond to this post.
>
> But, like a real genius, RMS' contribution was the creation of a new
> paradigm -- a paradigm for viewing and using not just software, but all
> intellectual property, especially the more fluid media types.
>
> He gave new meaning to the term "Free Speech" for the first time since the
> American Bill of Rights. He said that the individual must have access not
> only to the most top level of use, but he must have deep access to the
> framework of those tools and be able to manipulate and use that framework.
> He saw that as so important, that it must be part of Free Speech.
>
> Mr. Stallman, who toiled in obscurity for much of the 20th century, will be
> respected, as a father of the 21st Century -- laying the groundwork and
> intellectual framework for us to actually use the Internet for the
> distribution of content instead of being hamstrung by outdated laws and
> concepts of the 19th century.
Let us face it, the man is slightly eccentric. That, however, is what en-
ables him to mentally connect with some of the best minds in the world,
many of which are eccentric too. You would never be capable of attracting
the best minds in the field of security and encryption by wearing cuff
links and waving cheques atop a shiny Cadillac.
Stallman represents the modest man, as opposed to an aggressive business-
man who will use all means available to destroy[1] the competition rather
than overdo it, often through innovation.
Roy
[1] Proprietary formats, kickbacks, yada yada.
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