[buug] Seek the Wisdom Of Our Elder Geeks

Zeke Krahlin ezekielk at goct.net
Fri Mar 19 11:06:08 PDT 2010


Quoting Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com>:

> Quoting Zeke Krahlin (ezekielk at goct.net):
> I know a lot of those people. E.g., Richard Stallman's a friend of mine.
> I wouldn't have a clue about the politics of more than one or two of
> them, but they don't strike me as "renegade, left-wing,
> anti-establishment types".  You take your cited statement as given, i.e.,
> you don't bother to substantiate it, except to link to a rather fuzzy
> Wikipedia article that doesn't support your notion.  So, no, that simply
> is not correct, let alone "needing to be acknowledged".

--From [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_stallman ]:

As a hacker in MIT's AI laboratory, Stallman worked on software  
projects like TECO, Emacs, and the Lisp Machine Operating System. He  
would become an ardent critic of restricted computer access in the  
lab, which at that time was funded primarily by the Defense Advanced  
Research Projects Agency. When MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science  
(LCS) installed a password control system in 1977, Stallman found a  
way to decrypt the passwords and sent users messages containing their  
decoded password, with a suggestion to change it to the empty string  
(that is, no password) instead, to re-enable anonymous access to the  
systems.

--end quote

I'd say that's pretty "renegade"...but only in the best,  
"free-thinker" sort of way.  Plus, his concept of a "free" operating  
system and "copyleft" I'd say, is rather anti status quo. Strikes me  
as a strong influence from the Free Speech Movement, known for its  
playful style of politics.

More quotes:

--
His uncompromising attitude on ethical issues concerning computers and  
software has caused some people to label him as radical and  
extremist....

In Venezuela, Stallman has delivered public speeches and promoted the  
adoption of free software in the state's oil company (PDVSA), in  
municipal government, and in the nation's military.
--

I'd say that's pretty renegade. Perhaps you would prefer a word or  
term that is not quite so controversial? Anywayz, there is the whole  
history of hackers, their challenges to the status quo, and  
participation in shaking down button-down corporate policy.

> Well, no.  The concerns of FSF have always been orthogonal to all that,
> and FSF has been "anti-corporate" only to the extent that corporations'
> practices have often been among the primary obstacles to software
> freedom.

Okay. That's anti-corporate in one significant way. Those who  
challenged this, such as R. Stallman, came out of the 60's influence,  
in large part. The hacker movement and evolution of free software seem  
to have largely been advanced by these types. I had the honore of  
working w/Andrew Fleugelman at PC World, back in 1985-86. He created  
the concept of freeware, and coined the term "shareware"...and wrote  
the first shareware utility, "PC Talk".

Nonetheless, allow me some time to pick over my essay with a fine  
tooth comb, and make whatever corrections you feel may be needed, for  
the sake of accuracy.


-- 
Zeke Krahlin
https://zekeblog.wordpress.com


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