It's ironic though, that this post is coming from Macro. He hates Chrome (open source and free software) and uses Safari. He hates Android (open source and free software) and uses and develops for iOS.
Go and read The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson and then come back with your views about hypocrisy.
Salient quote:
You know, when I was a young man, hypocrisy was deemed the worst of vices,” Finkle-McGraw said. “It was all because of moral relativism. You see, in that sort of a climate, you are not allowed to criticise others-after all, if there is no absolute right and wrong, then what grounds is there for criticism? … Now, this led to a good deal of general frustration, for people are naturally censorious and love nothing better than to criticise others’ shortcomings. And so it was that they seized on hypocrisy and elevated it from a ubiquitous peccadillo into the monarch of all vices. For, you see, even if there is no right and wrong, you can find grounds to criticise another person by contrasting what he has espoused with what he has actually done. In this case, you are not making any judgment whatsoever as to the correctness of his views or the morality of his behaviour-you are merely pointing out that he has said one thing and done another. Virtually all political discourse in the days of my youth was devoted to the ferreting out of hypocrisy.
I'm working on the full RMS. The only obstacle so far is nivida cards, but nouveau is improving at every release.
The OP was calling for distributed social interactions using open and standardised peer protocols/applications. All for that. Not clear that this precludes proprietary implementations.
even if nouveau is finished, there is still software running on the card that you don't, and won't, have the source code to. same with your BIOS. stallman uses a laptop where all of the software in the BIOS is open source, as well as firmware software in the processor ... good luck with those unknown-format microcode blobs for Intel CPUs...
Absolutely, if and when the Lemote people get marketing sorted in the UK, and when I retire and need not use large monitors/large storage/media codecs, moving off binary blobs is the goal.
Until then, crusts must be earned. Trivia of the week: blackberry handsets support .ogg files. Wonderful.
Why not call out Google then for not having an open source search engine or adsense or maps? Or maybe that's because Google doesn't open source anything that makes them money?
The open web has nothing to do with OS software or hardware. Unless you're typing this comment on a Stallman-approved machine, you're a sanctimonious hypocrite.
Chrome is Chromium with Flash and a proprietary PDF reader. "A ton of proprietary code" isn't an accurate statement. You are also free to use Chromium (100% open source and free software), like I do.
You didn't say Chromium. You said Chrome. The parent's point is absolutely true, and really you have no idea what proprietary code Google has in the close-source (even if derived from open source) Chrome. It isn't a good example of an alternative, especially how deeply it tries to push Google services.
> and really you have no idea what proprietary code Google has in the close-source
On my Arch Linux, I use Chromium with a separate PDF reader and I don't use Flash. I suggest everyone do the same. For all intents and purposes, you will be using Chrome.
> especially how deeply it tries to push Google services.
Can you clarify what you are talking about? You can login with your Google account if you want tab sync etc. If you don't, you don't have to.
> For all intents and purposes, you will be using Chrome.
But you aren't. You are using Chromium.
> Can you clarify what you are talking about?
Google's AppStore, and their Apps on the new tab page (I forget if they had anything installed by default). Honestly, I don't feel like setting up a fresh install of Chrome to check. But you could answer your own question by doing this.
The point is, he has open source and free alternatives to Safari, that are equally good or arguably better. If he really cares about openness, I wonder why it hasn't influenced his decision.
The point of this article isn't about open source-- it's about open standards. In fact, it doesn't mention open source or free software at all. He actually says "The bigger problem is that they’ve abandoned interoperability." Chrome, Safari, Firefox, even IE are all interoperable; by working together on open standards, users have a nice selection of choices, regardless of opinions on FOSS/Closed-source.
I don't really see it as that terribly inconsistent to care more about open protocols and open content than about open source software for your personal use.
Maybe not. But it's hypocritical of him to not criticize Apple for pushing for an app-oriented mobile experience and using patents to block the progress of HTML5 APIs.
I sense hypocrisy.