“History was made on Tuesday, June 20, 2000. Accepting an
invitation to speak on the subject, this was the first time that
RMS gave a lecture on “The Use of Free Software In Commercial
Applications” to a group of Teradyne Telecommunication Division
employees in Deerfield, Illinois. Despite Teradyne’s record of
producing proprietary, patented software, the skies didn’t darken,
lightning didn’t strike, a plague of locusts didn’t descend and
consume printouts of non-free code, and thunderous condemnations of
immoral behavior didn’t issue from RMS’s lips. In general, a good
time was had by all present. This is my record of the events that
transpired.”
“No doubt this report won’t be well-received by those who
would, for whatever reason, wish to portray RMS as some kind of
unreasonable free-software lunatic zealot. Having had the
privilege and good fortune to spend part of the 19th and 20th of
June in his company, I can attest that such accusations are unfair
and slanderous.”
“Of course, that’s exactly what one would expect an RMS
sycophant to say. However, I am anything but a blind RMS groupie.
We have our differences: while I think that it is essential that
some software be free (particularly that which is socially
ubiquitous, like internet infrastructure code), I don’t think all
software has to be free. If people accept increasingly restrictive
licenses, that’s their choice. Politically, I am a libertarian, and
RMS admitted to me that he is a liberal. It’s fair to say that we
agree more than we disagree, but our few disagreements probably run
deep.”