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Red Hat pulls Free Software Foundation funding over Richard Stallman's return:
The chorus of disapproval over Richard M Stallman, founder and former president of the Free Software Foundation (FSF), rejoining the organisation has intensified as Linux giant Red Hat confirmed it was pulling funding.
Stallman announced he had returned to the FSF's Board of Directors last weekend – news that has not gone down well with all in the community and Red Hat is the latest to register its dismay.
CTO Chris Wright tweeted overnight: "I am really outraged by FSF's decision to reinstate RMS. At a moment in time where diversity and inclusion awareness is growing, this is a step backwards."
Describing itself as "appalled" at the return of Stallman to the FSF board of directors "considering the circumstances of Richard Stallman's original resignation in 2019," Red Hat said it decided to act.
"We are immediately suspending all Red Hat funding of the FSF and any FSF-hosted events. In addition, many Red Hat contributors have told us they no longer plan to participate in FSF-led or backed events, and we stand behind them," said Red Hat.
[...] Red Hat's step marks an escalation in the war of words over Stallman's return. As both a long-time donor and contributor of code, the IBM-owned company's action might well give the FSF pause for thought in a way that thousands of outraged tweets might not.
FSF president Geoffrey Knauth stated his intention yesterday "to resign as an FSF officer, director, and voting member as soon as there is a clear path for new leadership."
Red Hat statement about Richard Stallman's return to the Free Software Foundation board
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 28 2021, @07:20AM (40 children)
1. i am not strictly into programming, but have been around it for a while, and have noticed that of all the branches, CS ends up with the greatest share of people with a diagnosis or personality disturbance.
There is also an other strange phenomena: sexuality in these circles is not like in others: there is no game of maturity or pokerfacing or other social games, so there are no forces that impose mature "state of mind", or complicated autopilots, on the programmers... It is also they who are the least sexually active people.
The last and not the least, is that the way u have to think when program is the least compatible with the brain, it kind of wrecks it.
Let us not even talk about physical adeptness.
Lot of attack vectors for psychos.
As an addendum, mostly pseudopersons are offended by Linus. :D
2. On higher levels, software design is too close to the linguistic part of the brain: it is easy to blend in, until assembly or codecs or some other serious programming issue comes up.
This is why the present "culture" is full with so many "qualified" psychos.
It is too easy to blend in.
In no other technical field does this exist.
As an example, I have dabbled with programming, combinatorics, and other stuff, and can tag along in a discussion with programmers.
But u can fuck around as much as u want, I can give u a circuit with 10 transistors, and either u know or not. There is no room to wriggle.
Eventually this shitstorm settles, and a new era of fascism will arise, because many will see that fascism, seeing it from an evolutionary perspective, is there to keep the lunatics at bay.
It will, of course, bring its own share of problems, mostly because one can not kill anymore.
In the old days, though =)
I could live for the king all day long... Just give the orders.
=)
ur friend, Zug
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 28 2021, @07:51AM (18 children)
I'm not entirely certain that I follow your post, but here goes:
Many programmers suffer from Asperger's Syndrome which makes them unable to understand social cues. On the other hand, Aspies often have high IQ's and an obsessive attention to detail which are valuable traits in technical fields.
The 'cancel culture' mob who are trying to take over are part of the Post Meritocracy Movement. These people are very much /not/ Aspies and are in fact openly hostile to them both due to their disability and to their elevated status in tech fields. The short form is that they are highly offended that 'social retards' are allowed to have status and recognition for achievements that they themselves are not capable of. There is also a fair bit of embezzlement using 'outreach programs' that nobody is allowed to question.
Fascism and other forms of totalitarianism are what happens when psychopaths are allowed to take over. It never ends well for anybody and is the leading cause of societal collapse throughout history.
Give me freedom or give me death, and may your king roast in hell where they belong.
You are no friend of mine.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 28 2021, @07:57AM (2 children)
I am no friend of yours, because you do not understand. U are an aspie, most likely.
Humanity in its current form is a thin slice in time of the wast oceans of time that we have existed.
Some things that were needed once, do not fit anymore.
Then, the phrase "give me freedom or give me death" is a giveaway of who you are.
U want something u cant fight for, and do not understand that freedom only exists in contexts, not on its own.
U want freedom, but despise the forces who can grant you the laws that create the space in witch u have the freedom.
Personally, i would say "if u cant pull the trigger, at least give the orders".
also, get of my lawn, human.
-ur friendly friend, zug
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 28 2021, @08:45AM (1 child)
The parasites for whom you advocate were never needed nor will they ever be. They create nothing, but exist only to destroy. Never giving, only taking. They may promise freedom to their followers but in truth would enslave us all, for they are without conscience or compassion, ruled only by their greed. And ultimately it is greed that is the root cause of all of humanity's problems.
You claim to be friendly, but are no friend. Get off my planet.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 28 2021, @09:01AM
history begs to disagree...
civilizations bloomed most under the great empires, and the safety and prosperity they gave.
of course, when they finally crumbled, you could call them fascists.
as example, US is not great cuz its humble.
i dont get why all my comments are modded troll, i only speak the truth. ( - ahahahaha topkek)
-zug
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 28 2021, @01:41PM (14 children)
The majority of coders are not “aspies.” Same as in other fields, they are people capable of focusing on the job at hand for long hours, even death marches, without losing their humanity.
So why is tech so full of the fucked up? Because you don’t have to be mature to write code. Kids can do it. So it has become a retreat for people who are afraid of growing up, end of story. Stupid bro culture, both wanting to like girls but afraid of them. If this sounds like the behaviour of a 10-year-old, it’s because it is. It’s ugly when it’s present in adults, and the high proportion of misogynist males in tech is a direct result of people who want an environment where they can work without having to grow the fuck up.
Case in point - RMS. Usually, you get an education, leave school, get a job and a place of your own, because the world isn’t a scary place for a functioning adult. Stallman? He was crashing in the labs of MIT long after he was finished with his schooling. Unable to get a real job and a place of his own. An adolescent (at best) in an adult body. He then spent the rest of his life until the age of retirement going from one couch or borrowed room to another. His “job” paid $0.
Smelly, disgusting personal hygiene, with a long history of misogyny, he’s the typical incel who still wants what he can’t have (see his personal ad from over a decade ago on gnu.org and you’ll know why).
Tech is full of guys who make all sorts of excuses for their weird ways, to the point where they believe it’s “normal” for people in the field. But it never was. Most of the workers aren’t incels, enjoy going out with friends and family , and talk about the same things as everyone else. In other words, they’re not one-dimensional characters. They did what most people do, learned how to get along in the world instead of hiding from it in a cult-like lifestyle.
And they believe they are better than everyone else because they’re “special.” They are not. They could all have a big get-together and drink the purple floavor-aid and nothing much will change, except that without their toxicity, more women will get into the field.
It’s not a coincidence that Stallman quit around the time he qualified for social security - his first regular income in a lifetime. Let that whole sorry saga sink in and ask yourself - would you want to be associated with such a stupid bum? Would you let him stay at your place for a few months, with all his crazy demands on his hosts? (They are also on gnu.org, and most people would say “fuck you - be happy for what we’re giving you’)
That neither the FSF nor Stallman saw the reaction shows just how cloistered and insular their little world is. The world is better of without the useless PR fundraising campaigns of the FSF, and without Stallman. They should fold up their tents and leave the world to adults.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 28 2021, @02:02PM (3 children)
fakefuck, is that u?
anyways, i do not think they do any of what u say.
they just code, and make fun jokes on occasions, or go into long monologues on random topics.
do not get me wrong, i enjoy programmers, they are rather peaceful and informative poeple.
never the less, they have shortcomings, that makes organisations to densly populated by them easy to infliltrate, and that is one reason many dislike Linus.
he is a military type of guy, with some strength, agression, and fits of rage.
inflitrators hate righteous authority =)
-zug
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 28 2021, @04:12PM (2 children)
Sorry but I’m definitely not fakefuck. Not even dontgiveafuck.
Honestly, this whole thing is just another example of how isolated from reality so many who support Stallman and the FSF are. I’m just watching with my bowl of popcorn, because this whole mess was entirely predictable.
I’m still waiting for anyone to give even a semi coherent answer to the question of exactly what either Stallman or the FSF have done of consequence in years. Every pronouncement from the FSF is accompanied by numerous complaints about what they’re actually DOING aside from raising awareness of the FSF for fundraising purposes.
Advocacy? Well, I’d call that a big fat fail at this point. Stallman, either there or not there, changed nothing whatsoever. So why bring him back? Stallman hasn’t done anything of note in decades. Their bringing him back wasn’t only time-deaf; it shines a light on the FSF, and people are realizing how ineffective and useless it really is.
And that’s absolutely a GOOD THING™
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 28 2021, @06:34PM (1 child)
what they did was that they were there.
perhaps not the "right people", but in the right place, at right time, with the right philosophy.
personally, i am not in favor of waiting indefinitely for the right leader.
if u cant have the ones u love, love the ones u have =)
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 28 2021, @08:51PM
They failed. Because the GPL is useless. It discourages investment in GPL software. If they had said “only requires divulging the source after X number of years” there would have been huge investment, and the source would have been opened after a few years.
(Score: 2) by shortscreen on Sunday March 28 2021, @05:04PM (5 children)
Nice narrative you have going on there, but how would RMS qualify for social security if he never worked and paid into it?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 28 2021, @06:14PM (4 children)
So even a bum who never paid into the social security plan can collect at 65.
https://www.ssa.gov/ssi/ [ssa.gov]
So yes, a happy ending fucking over taxpayers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 28 2021, @06:36PM
Beautiful, almost Randian in tragicness.
(Score: 2) by shortscreen on Sunday March 28 2021, @10:53PM (2 children)
Thanks for responding, I had no idea about that. Rather strange set of incentives where a person can collect it if they live in a mcmansion and drive a Bentley but not if they have a bank account with $2001 in it. Although in the end it's only 800 bucks a month which is like 1/4 the cost of a tent in San Fran.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 28 2021, @11:56PM (1 child)
A Bentley would count as "personal property".
"anything else you own that could be converted to cash and used for food or shelter." cannot exceed $2000 to get on disability.
A guy who can hang around for 50 years at a university without pursuing gainful employment is either happy with being an ascetic, or has a sufficient personal fortune.
(Score: 2) by shortscreen on Monday March 29 2021, @01:48AM
The list of things that don't get counted says you're allowed one vehicle for transportation though, why not a Bentley? https://www.ssa.gov/ssi/text-resources-ussi.htm [ssa.gov]
(Score: 2) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Sunday March 28 2021, @06:46PM (1 child)
>Most of these “aspies” are self-diagnosed
It wasn't your main point, but it deserves to be amplified.
What I've seen from neurodiversity advocates is that they're pissed as hell at self-diagnosed people.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 28 2021, @07:54PM
Elite pricks.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 29 2021, @01:42AM (1 child)
RMS created emacs, gcc, the GPL, the free software movement, among many other things. He could have worked anywhere he pleased (and he did).
What have you accomplished besides trolling on the Internet?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 30 2021, @02:47PM
And people were sharing code back in the 70s long before Stallman, so he didn’t “invent” it.
emacs - tried it, found it stupid, went back to vi (vim wasn’t available back then on that architecture, if at all).
The GPL - a license that discourages investment in software under that license, and we’ve seen how that played out. The average distro has repositories filled which abandonware. Way to go.
That last point needs to be emphasized - the GPL leaves software to the not-so-tender mercies of their sponsors. Linux is a great example- now the direction is dictated by IBM/RedHat.
And modified GPL software is running on servers, where there is no obligation to redistribute the modified source , because the GPL foolishly limited itself to being a distribution licence, whereas most copyright software covers both use and distribution. Use, by per-use fees, and by allowing the holder to be the sole decider as to how copies are made.
Copyright was originally of a much shorter term, to allow creators a reasonable timeframe to profit from their work, after which it enters the public domain for the benefit of society. The GPL in effect breaks that model. A license with a shorter term before requiring source distribution (say 5 years) would have been far more intelligent. But Stallman is a libertarian, and was blind to alternatives to his personal agenda.
10 years from now the average distro will still expend mst of its energy tinkering with the desktop, and the repos will be a decade older and even more populated with decrepit software.
Same as the previous two decades. It’s all been downhill since the turn of the century.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by hemocyanin on Sunday March 28 2021, @08:56AM (7 children)
Interesting, semi-disturbing too. I'm definitely putting your posts in my list tomorrow if they're still marked troll then.
All my programming is personal, not professional stuff, but there have been several times I got deep into large projects and while I was there I got a lot of flack from people around me. Apparently, it became difficult for them to understand me or communicate with me or something -- I didn't really get it, it was just told to me by a number of people. Normally I have to work at interpersonal communication and I suspect I wasn't working on that as hard during those projects, but I remember none of the conflicts really. I do remember fondly what I built and the joy I got solving problems. I don't know if it wrecked my brain as you say, but it had some temporary effect.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 28 2021, @01:50PM (6 children)
Great examples of Dunning-Kruger. You don’t want to be stuck at a party with them because the topics of conversation will be very very constrained.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Sunday March 28 2021, @06:28PM (1 child)
Again, I'm just not seeing the problem here. If they leave the field, then what are they going to do? It's bizarre to demand that people leave something they're good at and maybe love, because of some imaginary "addiction". Remember it's not an addiction, if it's a helpful behavior.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Sunday March 28 2021, @11:28PM
Parent: It's an addiction
You: It's a helpful behavior
Short-time-horizon AI: Considering it's my job now, it's a hobby. Go ahead and categorize it however you want.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 28 2021, @06:39PM (3 children)
Yes because standing around chatting with strangers pretending to be interested in the weather is sooo fkn' sane.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 28 2021, @09:25PM (2 children)
If that’s all you think normal people talk about , you’ve proven my point.
(Score: 1) by Acabatag on Sunday March 28 2021, @10:30PM (1 child)
'Normal' people talk about TV shows, and sportsball events they watched on Teevee.
boring
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 29 2021, @12:01AM
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday March 28 2021, @06:26PM (10 children)
What is supposed to be the problem here? Should "qualified" psychos be sleeping under bridges, homeless, instead of having productive jobs that makes peoples' lives better? Why is it considered a problem to blend in easily because everyone cares more about your productivity than your personality?
To the contrary, it sounds it would have just started - when the cure is worse than the disease!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 28 2021, @06:43PM (1 child)
+1 if you ever noticed, the psychos in management are only interested in grading your personality and rarely about the work. For me it's an early indicator of whether I'm going to be able to work with somebody - if they start "correcting" my behavior and belittling work as "technical stuff" then they go in the trashcan.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 28 2021, @09:28PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 28 2021, @06:43PM (7 children)
the problem is one of perspective.
i see myself as a manager here: i want my coders to code, not combat sjw people.
my job is then to prohibit the psychos who blend in and bring other topics to the table, then the core bizniz of the company.
if u would have a company, and fat genderbent people would make a ruccus over the fact that the contact on ur cable are called male and female, or ur hdds would be configured master and slave, u would purrheaps pay me a sum, and i would break a bat over their knees.
i would consider it a honor.
i think we would agree irl, but here u are too focused on being mature, and dont see the big picture.
so the problem is, when it is easy to blend in, offtopic ppl show up, and make problems.
-zug
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday March 28 2021, @07:00PM (6 children)
"Combat sjw people"? Sounds like two parties involved in that fight. You probably ought to worry about those too.
By "prohibit", you mean fire? It's strange language you use there. I would prohibit the behavior, not the person. My take is that you can prohibit a fair bit of psycho by having and fairly enforcing those rules without requiring much in the way of firing.
Doesn't sound like there is a big picture here, but that's me. I'll just note that as a manager, it's your job to make offtopic ppl, ontopic ppl. That doesn't always work, but even people with bad social skills can mesh.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 28 2021, @08:45PM (5 children)
people with bad social skills do not create problems.
they already have enough of it, and seem to be happy as long as they can do what they like.
u still seem to missunderstand me.
-zug
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday March 28 2021, @09:03PM
Sounds like you need to define some terms then.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 28 2021, @09:31PM
Written by someone with bad social skills is my guess.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday March 29 2021, @12:59AM (2 children)
It depends on what "bad social skills" mean. I have "bad social skills" in the sense that at work I'm silent, cold, and tend to move a bit too quickly from one task or place to another for anyone to talk to me. Yes, there's definitely some phobia or other at work here. But you know, all it means is I get the entire hospital's deliveries done in an hour, don't gossip, handle returns, and somehow have enough time to have unit dose labels and bags set up for the morning shift despite that not being night shift's job
But someone else may have "bad social skills" in the sense that they don't bathe, pick fights with co-workers, and take everything anyone says to them as some sort of personal attack. THAT is going to interfere with getting work done.
So "bad social skills" in and of itself really doesn't give the full picture.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 30 2021, @11:21PM (1 child)
One of the interesting things about humans is that gossip isn’t actually a waste of time - it’s one way people are kept “in the loop” about problems before they get too big, so stuff often gets done before it turns into a disaster.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday March 31 2021, @12:15AM
Yes, which is why I keep all three ears (two natural, one mostly plastic and silicon) out *for* the gossip. I just don't participate. People think I hear less than I actually do, which is amusing sometimes :) Now if only the other hearing aid still worked...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 28 2021, @07:43PM (1 child)
What branches? Of engineering?
With CS, you had a field that attracted people with far more ability to understand what is going on in a machine that in people. And understanding machines is a great skill in that field. After what was likely a traumatic experience in high school, studying CS led to an unremarkable but satisfying career with middle-class pay as a programmer. Of other applied engineering disciplines, I guess mechanical engineering is similar in the amount of art that goes into the practice, but the problems and solutions are far more predictable, and antipatterns are less accepted. Programming positions have always had some access path to people without formal education in the field, that is far more rare in the classical engineering disciplines.
People in CS kept in contact, built their subculture, created public pools for tools that anyone could use. And kept to themselves. Years later, the dotcom bubble, the mobile bubble, the advertising^Wspyware bubble have led to *starting* 6 figure salaries for code slingers. Some of the tool pools were flush with cash donated by grateful projects who got a commercial start with their free tools. Where pretty much every other industry in this country is under pressure, there is upside and demand in programming. "The people have no bread? Why don't they learn to program!" became a popular catchword.
The promise of easy money and the lack of formal skills demanded by employers is what got the pretenders coming out of the woodwork. Pretenders who had much better social skills than technical skills. Bringing back the social order of high school, ejecting technical people from the tool pools and squandering their funding. These "Fraggles" know that the dumb "Doozers" will feel obligated to continue programming tools for free as they kick down on them.
How can programmers turn the ship around? They could grow a pair and not care if people are or play offended. They could have a strong professional society that sets standards. There's the ACM, but I think they're entirely academic. I joined the IEEE, who have practicing engineers as members, besides academics.
I'm not holding my breath that things will improve markedly anytime soon, unless the bubble meets its overdue end. I am content that I saved my pennies while the taking was good, and cannot be cancelled.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 28 2021, @07:59PM
Not just programming. The sciences too - especially on the academic side where being "balanced" is rewarded as opposed to being actually capable.