Comment Re:Exactly. (Score 2) 529
Yes. I strongly believe he is wrong on every substantial issue he raises. I think his use of copyright law to force sharing (the GPL) is a clever legal hack, but his desire to prioritize the "freedom" of systems over those systems actually doing anything useful is totally unreasonable.
You are entitled to your opinion. The fact of the matter, though, is that there are thousands(being conservative) of useful software packages that are free. Being free is a major priority but being free only matters when the software is useful. In fact RMS didn't even like Unix back when he started the GNU project but he realized that in order to have a really USEFUL system it needed to be portable. Unix was a good fit for that. Freedom was not good without a useful system and the same holds true today.
Software freedom is so much less importsant than other forms of freedom (freedom from slavery, freedom of speech, freedom of association, etc) in the real world that I can't take his writing seriously.
RMS himself has stated that software freedom takes a back seat to more important moral issues in the world. He knows this and you should too being that you've claimed to have read all of his essays. Additionally, as more and more aspects of our daily lives are controlled by software this issue has become important. As Lawrence Lessig has written: "Code is Law".
Given his childish behavior, rant-laden writing style, and inability to express a coherent argument, I am sure the vast majority of software developers have never bothered to learn what his actual positions are.
I think much of that has to do with the fact that most people learn of Linux and want to know more. They do some research and stumble upon Linus Torvalds. Many never even hear of RMS until an article like this one is posted to
The only people who can stand to listen to him are those who forgive those traits because they already agree with what he says. You can't expect to grow a movement that way, even if your movement has a purpose that makes sense.
The movement grows based on its principles, not on the people that started it.