Hello There has been a lot of damage done in the last week or so and it is clear that not everyone in the community feels the same way about everything going on. I want to voice my support for RMS, for the FSF and for the Free Software Community.
This is not the first attack to ever take place on a community or the figurehead of a movement. I think we all know that other important social movements have had their share of media-driven scandal. What is most important here is how we move forward. What RMS said is being misquoted and misstated everywhere around the web. Those that were already overly critical of him just went supernova. This situation has made it hard to keep perspective of what's going on. There are some things in this situation that are not totally clear to me: 1) Is RMS still going to have any kind of interaction with the FSF? 2) I am unclear as to the motivation for his resignation. I'd like to know if he voluntarily resigned or if he was urged or forced to "voluntarily" resign? 2a) Did RMS, or the FSF board have him resign to do some damage control and create distance between himself and the FSF or did he resign due to demand of the board and others within the FSF because they wanted him gone, as has been theorized? Having a clear understanding of these motivations can be helpful in trying to sort out where we need to go next. This movement must continue. We need to have Free Software, not Open Source software. We need GNU/Linux, not "Linux". We need these things not just for the practical and obvious applications of the things themselves but also for the ideology they carry. We have to quit fighting over this. What's done is done. If you care about Free Software then let's show support to the FSF and work together as a community, and RMS is still a part of this community. I want to mention that I did attend LibrePlanet this year, for the first time. I loved it and I met so many amazing people. It was a very inviting atmosphere and everyone there was very respectful and friendly. Everyone at the FSF were great as well. I found the entire experience to be very positive. This community has really great people in it. Thank you Matt Ivie _______________________________________________ libreplanet-discuss mailing list [email protected] https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss
