When there is no more proprietary software, we will completely reach our goal..

Richard Stallman:

When there is no more proprietary software, we will completely reach our goal..

PanARMENIAN.Net - Richard Stallman, the preacher of free software, confirms his status by putting on a frock of Saint IGNUcius, a saint of the Church of Emacs. His sermon calls for free distribution of software, with programmers having access to the code. People call Stallman a crank, a hippy, a communist or even a prophet of free software. A prophet can do anything he wants: he can call Microsoft a malware and label Apple as attacker on users. Being in Armenia for the first time, Stallman said that in Boston, where he lives, he buys bread from a bakery named Sevan. He promised to share impressions about Armenia and Lake Sevan with the bakery owners upon return home.
Mr. Stallman, can you tell where the free software movement has a stronger support, in developing or in developed countries?
Neither. The pattern is not simple. Every country has its own historical situation and its own cultural background, and its own political situation, which has a big effect on the response. In general, former communist countries do not take up free software very much. Communists said that their system was about helping each other but it really turned out to be corruption. When the soviet union fell, in Russia and mostly in Eastern Europe too people were only interested in how they could make money. They did not even think about treating other people decently. I got that reaction in China also in 1990ies. But now it’s starting to change. In China there is a free software movement and it seems to be a lot of enthusiasm in Armenia. There is starting to be some in Russia, but not that much. Places where there is a tremendous demand and support for free software are South America and India and some European countries – Spain, France and Scandinavian countries.

Some government agencies in U.S. and Europe are starting to use free software based on GNU/Lunix…
The U.S. government has made some use of free software for a long time.

Can you say that you reached your goal to some extent?
No, that means that we are beginning to reach our goal. The goal is that all users should be free and have control of their computing. So, when there is no more proprietary software we will completely reach our goal. It’s a goal that is ethical in nature rather than a goal defined in terms of personal success or popularity.

You say that moving to the use of free software will not cause loss of jobs. How can you be sure of it if you did not conduct any economic research?
I don’t know how sure you have to be. It’s because the jobs that would be lost are few. My conclusions follow from common sense.

They say you don’t use credit cards or mobile phones…
I use a credit card once in a while. But I use in context it when they know who I am already. I don’t use it to buy things. I use it to pay for airline tickets or to rent a car. But in most cases they demand to see who I am anyway.

And how are you doing without a mobile phone?
When you were 15, did you have a mobile phone? No. Did that kill you? How did you live? I talk on other people’s mobile phones. I don’t just have my own to carry with me.

There is a stereotype that programmers are interested in computers and nothing else but I know you have hobbies. Can you tell about them?
One of my favorite hobbies was folk dancing. But I can’t do that very much anymore because I have tendonitis and my foot would hurt. I was very sad when it happened. Another thing I used to enjoy was playing Indonesian music. I used to be in a gamelan performing group. But I had to stop when I started traveling so much. Because I’m not there enough to participate in such an activity. Whatever, I still enjoy listening to music. I enjoy reading, eating and sometimes cooking.

You advocate free software and do not take money for your lectures. How do you earn your living?
I do take if they offer me some. I do not refuse pay. However, I give a lot of speeches for which I am not paid.

Which distribution do you use?
I am using gNewSense. The reason I chose it out of the several free distributions is that it’s supported by my computer which is not a PC.

Gayane Mirzoyan / PanARMENIAN News
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