Comment by akagusu
3 years ago
Almost 40 years ago RMS, the guy people love to hate, created the Free/Libre software movement and a proprietary printer firmware was one of his motivations.
For 40 years this guy has been talking about the perils of proprietary software and people gave a shit to him.
Today people not only strongly defend proprietary software, but they think he is a moron, and even free/libre software activists think proprietary firmwares are okay as long their hardware works as expected.
Of course this is okay until their hardware stops to work as intended and you are locked out because the proprietary firmware, which usually is what happens.
I think current proper title for RMS - at least among Properly Thinking People - is "misogynist, ableist, and transphobic" [1]. I haven't heard many people calling him a "moron" though. Extreme idealist with some weird ideas - maybe, but a "moron" - I don't think so, especially as his predictions keep coming true. I'm not sure whether his recipes are the solution, but at least it can be obvious he can see the problem.
[1] https://rms-open-letter.github.io/