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: 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.