I have been a user of Open Source software since I went to university in 1989 and been writing my own open source software for over ten years. As such I always kept an eye on what leading figures in the Free Software Movement have to say.
As such, it was with interest that I read the headline; "RMS: De Icaza Traitor to Free Software Community", being intrigued as to what Richard Stallmanhad said this time.
As I read through the post I noticed nothing unusual to start with; Stallman's usual rantings against anything that smells of the corporate world; Software as a Service, Proprietary JavaScript, even Mono, which I personally think is a good idea.
And then he was asked a question about the Microsoft "Open Source" labs.He said that Miguel de Icaza was a "traitor to the Free Software community" and a "Microsoft apologist", and that the Microsoft "Open Source" labs are just concerned with permitting open source software to work on Windows, drawing away developers from working on free platforms like GNU/Linux.
Richard Stallman is entitled to his opinion, like anyone else, but to use terms like "traitor" and "apologist" just shows how over the top his opinion is. Views like this do nothing to help the Free Software/Open Source movement, as much as there is one, and everything to damage it.
Working on projects that help software work on different systems does not make you a traitor to Free Software. If projects like Mono and the Microsoft "Open Source" labs bring open source software to a larger market place, then great. We should embrace them.
I, for one, never write an application just for one, small clique. I want as many people to use it as possible.
Stallman's comment that the labs will direct people away for working on free platforms like Gnu/Linux, just shows how disconnected he is with the world. Denying an open source application from the Windows using majority isn't going to get people to change from Windows to Linux, from propriety software to open source. They will just use a different tool and that application will just languish in obscurity.
Richard Stallman has done much for the Free Software Movement over the years, but his comments are those of the past. It is no longer an us and them fight; a battle between two dogma's, Corporate, closed source vs Community, open source. This is the new age of corporate open source, companies putting money and effort into community projects. In this environment, terms like "traitor" and "apologist" do no one any favours.
Like most of the developers who are involved in the Open Source world, I have an duel life. Yes I like free, open source software, however, as I earn my living writing web sites I need company's to make and sell products so I can get paid.When choosing technologies to learn, I'll choose the corporate worlds preferred technology, which for me is C#/ASP.Net.
However much I love open source products, I cannot afford to be principled about this, I have a family to feed.