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Richard Stallman hates consoles, being mistaken for Zombie Orson Welles photo

Richard Stallman is a large man. A large man with a beard that could easily hide a family of poor, migrant workers from La Migra for days on end. Am I claiming that Mr. Stallman is guilty of hiding illegal immigrants in his beard for fun and profit? No, I'm claiming that he hates video game consoles.

A Dtoid reader, Matthew, sent us an email earlier directing my attention to this ZDNet blog, where Mr. Stallman converses with one of the writers there about the evils of the consoles we all have in our homes. To wit;

Q: One final question. We're seeing more and more devices, and I'm thinking specifically of games consoles — I know that my kids have one in the house — where there is no —

Richard Stallman: I wouldn't. You have to learn how to say no to your kids.

Q: That's true, that's true, I wouldn't deny it. Now, there is no free software at all for devices like this [correction: Yellow Dog supports some console(s)].

Richard Stallman: That's why there is no possible ethical way you could use one, and so you shouldn't have it.

Q: All right, I think I'll take the kids out on the bike more often.

Richard Stallman: That would be much better for them.

Far be it from me to call anyone with facial hair of that magnitude a raving psychopath, but I think all the years of being the Ingrid Newkirk of the FOSS movement have turned Richard into the kind of raving zealout that Muslim clerics go gay for. Refusing to give your children a device that would bring them endless amounts of joy simply because you have been disallowed from writing a program that would make the Xbox 360 send a text message to your Linux-enabled toaster whenever a new .bin of the first season of Spaced hits Mininova, is not only crazy, it's the sort of thing that drives children to grow beards like Mr. Stallman's.

Seriously, did you see that beard?!?








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13 comments | showing # 1 to 13
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Burnt Meatloaf's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/07/2007 03:09
Burnt Meatloaf
Ah, free software kooks. It's a shame that the idealism of distribution generally overrides the quality and design of the software itself -- and then they steal all the eye candy from commercial software without actually understanding the functionality.

I can think of no greater evil in the Linux community than Beryll. Why play cool video games when you can watch spreadsheet windows wiggle like jello? Look at the advanced physics engine make those application icons bounce around the screen! Puts your XBox to shame, yo!
DrXym's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/07/2007 03:35
DrXym
I understand Stallman's stance to some extent. DRM and closed systems ARE evil. Give me Linux over a closed box anyday (I already have YDL installed on the PS3). But it's no good bitching about consoles when there is no alternative let alone one which is compelling. Where is the 1-click install of MythTV for the PS3 for example?.
Hipple's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/07/2007 03:36
Hipple
I'd be interested to hear his argument about the ethics about console gaming. I'm pretty sure it would be complete bullshit, but it's always fun to hear extremists try to defend their completely irrational viewpoints. He's like a free software fanboy.
Aaron Mxy Yost's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/07/2007 03:59
Aaron Mxy Yost
A challenger appears:



vgfreak30's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/07/2007 04:00
vgfreak30
I say we shave his beard, who wants to help?
wardrox's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/07/2007 05:50
wardrox
Stallman idealised about wikipedia you noobs, how boring would life be without wikipedia? He is a freee software evangelicalist, and I can see why. With my DS, horribly expencive with over inlated prices, get homebrew running and you get hundreds of people making stuff, because they can, and you get better, more origenal, not as polished stuff. It allows creativity.
Take Stallman in context, all his life he has been doing amasing things for the computing world (PS3 runs linux right? ;-P) and just because he doesnt think siting kids down in front of a mass marketed-DRMed to high heaven-gameing console doesnt make him bad.

Stallman,go buy your kinds DSs then get them homebrew, its not al bad :-)

PS, I have always wanted Stallman's beard.
jamisu's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/07/2007 08:59
jamisu
1 - This guy ain't got nothin' on my beard.

2 - I just saw him give a lecture at Lehigh University. He has some pretty cool ideas, but most of his theories are way too far to the left for me. Someone at the lecture recorded the whole thing, and videoed the Q&A part. If anyone is interested, I can post links.
JonDarkwood's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/07/2007 10:41
JonDarkwood
With Microsoft and Nintendo working on features for indie development, things are progressing toward some level of open source. If the man wants to argue for that, then good for him -- but i'll still be glad he's not my parent.
realyst's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/07/2007 11:44
realyst
Is there any wonder why Linus Torvalds distanced himself from Stallman more and more over the years?
Darren Nakamura's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/07/2007 12:02
Darren Nakamura
This guy is against consoles because there's no free software for them? And uh, what about all that free software there is for them? Demos on the 360 and PS3. Opera on the Wii. What's his deal?
merc's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/07/2007 12:07
merc
wardrox-

The DS is "horribly expencive" [sic] and the prices are "over inlated." You're joking, right?

If you're not, get off the retarded entitlement train. There's a reason that open source software tends to be functional, but not nearly as much as its commercial counterpart. Further, name me three homebrew titles that are actually a complete gaming experience. Hell, try to even name one for the DS. That's been a cool app or two, and some games that are fun for five minutes, but ultimately they tend to greatly lack the polish and longevity of a commercial project. They don't even compare to most cheap Xbox Live Arcade original titles.

No one getting paid, whether in cash or a gold star on a resumé or both, means no real quality standards. You can't say to a team member that they're going to get canned and thus not be able to feed their family if they don't hurry up and write some decent dialog or make nice grass textures, or whatever. You get a Cave Story or an Open Office once in a while, but more often you just get really awkward Tetris clones.
elerra's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/07/2007 15:26
elerra
The Stallman interview on the ZDNet blog is an excerpt from a Groklaw interview by Sean Daly, who isn't a ZDNet writer.

But I wonder if Stallman likes, or even knows about, the GP2X?
Churchhills Dog's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/07/2007 16:49
Churchhills Dog
Go found your own country you commie pinko jewey jewstein beardman!

baby Gates cries in your direction....MIT FTW ..LinuXz Torvaldez eats the baby parsing tree....
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