"Richard Stallman, revered by some as a genius (after all, he won a McArthur “genius” grant in 1990) and by others as a crackpot"
When I first heard him speak many years ago, I thought he was a real crank. My negative thoughts centered around:
1 - How can we build the next Microsoft without true ownership?
2 - Does his model of thinking demand that 100% of the population be technical enough to troubleshoot their computers?
3 - I can see people writing software for love, but who writes all the documentation?
As the years go by, he's one of the few people who sounds less like a crackpot, even though he hasn't softened his extremism. With the current state of patent trolling, it's getting harder to create the next Microsoft. Improvements in GUIs is taking some of the issue away for #2. But I still haven't figured out #3.
Edited for formatting
When I first heard him speak many years ago, I thought he was a real crank. My negative thoughts centered around:
1 - How can we build the next Microsoft without true ownership?
2 - Does his model of thinking demand that 100% of the population be technical enough to troubleshoot their computers?
3 - I can see people writing software for love, but who writes all the documentation?
As the years go by, he's one of the few people who sounds less like a crackpot, even though he hasn't softened his extremism. With the current state of patent trolling, it's getting harder to create the next Microsoft. Improvements in GUIs is taking some of the issue away for #2. But I still haven't figured out #3.
Edited for formatting