What is Digg?63 Comments
- BloodJunkie, on 10/12/2007, -1/+36"about 200 attendees protested the 'Autograph Tax' by marching on the FSF booth and singing the Imperial March from Star Wars"...the nerdiness of that image has rendered me speechless.
- Bogtha, on 10/12/2007, -1/+22It's not irony, it's not even American faux-irony or hypocrisy, which some people mistake for irony. The "free" that Stallman promotes is freedom, not zero-cost. As this is the case, there's nothing incongruent about Stallman charging money for things. For example, the Free Software Foundation actually sells software:
https://agia.fsf.org/order/ - acceptab1euname, on 10/12/2007, -1/+21What makes it worse (at least for me) is that I realized that there are no *lyrics* to the Imperial March...
- aidanr, on 10/12/2007, -3/+23free software foundation not free autographs foundation, would you be bothered signing thousands of autographs for nothing, besides if its put back into free software developement wheres the harm?
- soogy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17Priceless? No, I'd say about $3 a pop.
- galisus, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18If anyone bothered to read the TITLE of the ARTICLE you'd know he's charging for the FOUNDATION.
Consider it a donation and you happen to get an autograph. Not to mention making things CAPS makes you SEEM COOLER. - emostar, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16From the article, here is a quote from Stallman about why he did this. Apparently too many people are too lazy to RTFA...
Shortly after I arrived in FISL, someone asked me to sign his convention badge. I realized that thousands of people might attend, and signing thousands of convention badges could take hours. Therefore I said I would sign it in exchange for a contribution of 10 reais (5 dollars) for the Free Software Foundation. Likewise, I realized that hundreds or thousands might ask me to pose with them for photographs. So I decided to ask 5 reais for this, about $2.50, also for the Free Software Foundation. - BloodJunkie, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16yeah. a video of this would be priceless.
- kindrobot, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14Oh jeebus, folks. Get over yourselves. Who cares? Leave the guy alone.
If he offers support services for a price, does that make him a sellout as well? - zukeft, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Oh brother.... Anyway, taken from gnu.org and what's said above:
"Free software'' is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of "free'' as in "free speech,'' not as in "free beer."
Charging for an autography therefore is hardly ironic. - distrbnce, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10wtf if you don't want his damn autograph then don't pay.
- hah456, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Stallman spoke at my school a few months ago. He sold his book and few other items but didn't charge for his autograph.
- soogy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Instead of bashing this guy, you should all be praising him. I thought geeks always wanted to have enough respect that people would pay for their autographs, much like movie stars (without the thousand dollar suits).
- djp2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6This article and its interest shows that to get a story on the front page of digg you just need to follow the same cynicism as print media - misquote a story so that the one line is misleading enough to get a reaction.
- GreatBunzinni, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8The thing is that a man like Richard Stallman, when he walks into any computer-related event, will be flooded with autograph and photograph requests. That makes it almost unbearable to walk around a showroom. Do you imagine yourself being stopped for an autograph and picture whenever you take two steps in any random direction? It is very very very annoying.
Richard Stallman may be earning a few bucks with this one but the biggest thing that comes up from this is the fact that there will be less and less people getting on his way of enjoying a normal trip around any showroom. - drawkbox, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6If he works on free software he may need the money. :)
- GreatBunzinni, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I believe that those guys still didn't get it that putting a price on an autograph isn't intended to make money out of it. The purpose is to be left alone unless you really really want to talk to him.
The pricetag isn't to make money on autographs. At $1 a pop how much would he make? $25? $50 ? $100? The price is the tax to make at least a group of people to stop bothering him. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4i'd assume they were humming the tune.. still it's been a while since i actually lol'd at a comment on dig but that one takes the cake.
well played sir. - macewan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5a layout in playgirl can't be far behind
- volcompimp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4His heart was in the right place and I understand that the underlying point relating it to free software is the code should be free and open but services such as tech-support, deployment etc are not. Signing autographs doesn't help a community of people, it gives you personal satisfaction. It's not like he's charging 100,000 to show up and promote the FSF in the first place or even profiting from the autographs. The money was raised for the FSF.
- eagleswings, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4His autograph is 'free' just 'not free as in free beer'
- jakob, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5But are you able to freely modify, duplicate, and redistribute them?
- bariswheel, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4So @$^ what....reported as lame...you really think there is a link between supporting free software and charging for your autographs? stop overanalyzing for god sake
- pmsyyz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It might be ironic if Free Software had anything to do with price.
- addicted44, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Oh my Richard Stallman. How could you do this? Didn't you know that one of your autographs could mean the difference between poor kids all over the world not getting an education?
Actually, like some have pointed out, Stallman supports free as in freedom, not beer. He does not mind you charging for your products, as long as you allow people to see what it is that they are actually buying (by this I mean code).
Actually, it is articles like this that show why many people dislike Stallman. His continued insistence on using the word free, rather than open-source, since many believe that , like in this case, it creates confusion. - lament, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3anyone who charges for autographs is a tool, not matter what industry they're in.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5His signature is proprietry, he can charge what he wants for it. If it were open source, then people wouldn't need to pay him to write it, they'd just compile it themselves on their pen and paper of choice.
The fact that people were protesting shows how little they understand about their own licensing rules. - GreatBunzinni, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Or maybe the decision to start charging for autographs is to make them pissy kids stop bothering him wherever he goes. There are people who ask for autographs even if they don't have a clue about who the person is or what the person does.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5you ***** for real? stallman "flooded with fans" ?? wtf bizzare world are you living in.
stallman walks around with this massive ego, id' slap anyone for actually paying this man to have a picture taken with him. - gschoots, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I once had an e-mail conversation with him and besides being very reachable he really takes the time to handle your questions properly. I believe Richard Stallman is the very first software fundamentalist out there, and as with most fundamentalists they always have a point but often they treat it likes there is nothing in the world to worry about than their issue. I really think he does great work but is a bit radical for most I think.....
btw we had a discussion about using proprietary tools for creating game media content while the game source was freely available as was the media, it was created using tools like 3DStudioMax. Richard suggested that we halt that process immediately and proceed at creating tools that equals 3DStudioMax in functionality, but since we just wanted to create the game itself we ignored it. He has a point but it's not doable....... - speedmaster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1A couple thoughts.
First, why would anyone want his autograph?
Second, I would imagine that anyone that paid for his autograph to believe they got their money's worth, or they wouldn't have bought it. - matatabe, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I think it's worth it. His autograph is actually based on a series of routines running on top of a signature serving device. It's far more elegant and modular than the monolithographical Torvalds signature.
- The_Decryptor, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Yeah, people always seem to get confused over the meaning of the word free.
- Daiver, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The guy lives off conferencing. Give him a break. Besides, it was for the Foundation (or so the article says...)
- rvalles, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It's all good. Supporting Stallman means supporting the FSF, which defends our freedom.
- merm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1>"Free software'' is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of "free'' as in "free speech,'' not as in "free beer."
For that to work would require people a society that understands what "free speech" is. Good luck on that. - Photar, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Or better yet, why don't you setup a booth right next to his with a sign that says "FREE RMS Autographs" and sign them yourself.
- volcompimp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If anything, him charging for his autograph reinforces the idea that he's trying to promote. The code is free, not the services.
- Zephiron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0That's what I say about MS.
- nevrar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Good for him. There's nothing hypocritical about that. He's taking his time and effort to give people something that has value to it. Why shouldn't someone be paid for labour?
You guys who say it's hypocritical: take a look in the mirror. Ever heard of paying for something? Do you ask your boss to pay you for your work, or do you say you don't believe in paying people for labour. - tommythetomcat, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5Why doesn't he just create some free software that signs autographs for him?
- fani, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Jeez. What a hypocrite. Making Free Software to put others out of business while charging for autographs and pics.
Unless... he's putting that money back into FSF and nurturing/developing OSF more. - niiru, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Out of interest, I hear him called RMS a lot, what does this stand for exactly?
Richard ManStall seems a bit weird - johnmarkos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0His actions are totally consistent with his principles. Now, what if someone was making photocopies of his autograph? What if someone had a cardboard Richard Stallman cutout and was taking pictures of people with the cutout? To stop *them* would be against free (as in speech) auto/photograph principles.
- Toecutter, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0They where allready wearing thier costumes, this was just a good excuse to all march together.
- BloodJunkie, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1LOL
- kalphegor, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1at least something isn't free in Open Source world
/sarcastic - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4Bunzini...you can't be that out of touch with society...He will nto be flooded with autograph seekrs. Certianly not on the level of a REAL celebrity, or athelte. And while they certainly charge for autograph sessions, most still give them out for free at other times. (Like before a game, etc.)
And I hate to have to point this out again, but imagine if this article was about Bill Gates charging? WOW! The hypocrites on this site would be blasting him. Even if the money went to charity. - boredzo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Quick, somebody create an open-source clone of Richard M. Stallman.
- Zephiron, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Whats worse is stupid people paying for said autograph
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