If you just read his writings on the importance of free software, he never was that "crazy" to begin with. He simply saw examples of companies locking down their hardware so that they could control it at the consumer's expense.
Exactly this is happening with Apple now. Although Apple computers were fairly hackable in the past, with users being able to install Linux or Windows, that is changing. Apple is changing the hardware _and_ software to make it more difficult to do things that Apple does not approve of.
Stallman was keenly aware of this type of behaviour, and he was also aware that companies that have the potential to use this behaviour to this advantage, will often do so.
Apple wants to be in a position where they sell computers as appliances, and Apple Silicon is their step towards doing so.
By the way, I'm typing this on a Macbook pro that is no longer supported by Apple, but running Linux. I am not sure this would be possible in the world of Apple Silicon.
I don't think Stallman's crazy, he's just passionate about his beliefs, and people whose careers depend on not acknowledging the truth in what he has to say like to dismiss him.
He was short sighted in many parts. Eg: the definition of free software as something that can be freely redistributed.
For infrastructure parts, it makes sense to be even permissive open source. For something in applications level, it would be nice to make money from it by charging corporations using it, while still being freely available for students and hobbyists. This could have combined best of open source and commercial software.
Stallman's belief is that everything is either good or bad, and there is nothing in between. He is write about consumerization of computing devices though.
Hardly "happy about all this". From the end of the linked article:
Author's note: Some people have read this blog as my utopia or dream of the future. It is not. It is a scenario showing where we could be heading - for better and for worse. I wrote this piece to start a discussion about some of the pros and cons of the current technological development. When we are dealing with the future, it is not enough to work with reports. We should start discussions in many new ways. This is the intention with this piece.
Every year Stallman seems less crazy.
If you just read his writings on the importance of free software, he never was that "crazy" to begin with. He simply saw examples of companies locking down their hardware so that they could control it at the consumer's expense.
Exactly this is happening with Apple now. Although Apple computers were fairly hackable in the past, with users being able to install Linux or Windows, that is changing. Apple is changing the hardware _and_ software to make it more difficult to do things that Apple does not approve of.
Stallman was keenly aware of this type of behaviour, and he was also aware that companies that have the potential to use this behaviour to this advantage, will often do so.
Apple wants to be in a position where they sell computers as appliances, and Apple Silicon is their step towards doing so.
By the way, I'm typing this on a Macbook pro that is no longer supported by Apple, but running Linux. I am not sure this would be possible in the world of Apple Silicon.
I don't think Stallman's crazy, he's just passionate about his beliefs, and people whose careers depend on not acknowledging the truth in what he has to say like to dismiss him.
He was short sighted in many parts. Eg: the definition of free software as something that can be freely redistributed.
For infrastructure parts, it makes sense to be even permissive open source. For something in applications level, it would be nice to make money from it by charging corporations using it, while still being freely available for students and hobbyists. This could have combined best of open source and commercial software.
Stallman's belief is that everything is either good or bad, and there is nothing in between. He is write about consumerization of computing devices though.
Only in relation to the wider world which is getting progressively more crazy.
I think the intent of the statement was more:
> Every year Stallman seems more correct.
In the sense that the exact risks he was trying to mitigate are in fact materializing in mainstream computing platforms.
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Don't forget the World Economic Forum, but they're happy about all this:
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/11/shopping-i-can-t-real...
Hardly "happy about all this". From the end of the linked article:
Author's note: Some people have read this blog as my utopia or dream of the future. It is not. It is a scenario showing where we could be heading - for better and for worse. I wrote this piece to start a discussion about some of the pros and cons of the current technological development. When we are dealing with the future, it is not enough to work with reports. We should start discussions in many new ways. This is the intention with this piece.
The author, Ida Augen is without a doubt one of Denmark's most respectable and intelligent politicians.
The article sohuld not be read as an endorsement of that future. It's her prediction of what the world is going to look like, for better or for worse.