[LUNI] Origin of "GNU/Linux" revealed at last!

[Martin Maney]

On Tue, Aug 06, 2002 at 08:54:52AM -0500, Jean-Michel Smith wrote:
> On Monday 05 August 2002 09:34 pm, Martin Maney wrote:
> 
> > Can't wait to see if there's a rebuttal.  Then again, maybe I can.  I
> > prefer to respect Stallman for the good works he has done, and that can
> > be really hard when he goes off into rant'n'roll mode.  :-(
> 
> You know, I used to feel exactly as you do.

I think we have a great deal more agreement than not, and I can't say I'm at
all unhappy to have provoked your thoughtful response, but I guess I do need
to clarify my tossed-off remark.

I *do* respect Stallman; I don't entirely agree with him across the board,
but I admire his integrity and his consistent adherence to a reasoned
position.  That's such a rare thing these days.  But he does seem to go
through periods when he's just too shrill - and now that you've raised some
points there, I think it might be something that's more prone to happen when
he's arguing online.  This might explain a lot, and I'm purely bemused at
the thought that I may have assumed that Stallman was somehow immune to the
sort of "net rage" that I encounter so frequently in news, mailing lists,
etc.

Anyway, I didn't mean to give you the idea that I think Stallman is always
in rant'n'roll mode; on the contrary, he's often, probably usually, in
better form.  But I wouldn't be surprised to see a bit of that needlessly
shrill, abrasive side come out if he disagrees with this bit of history...
and replies too quickly, as our internet world too often encourages.

-- 
vi is a microcosm of the Unix world.  Don't expect
to learn all of it at once; perhaps you shouldn't expect
to learn all of it at all.  -- Jon Lasser (Think Unix)