> he did change the system from the inside Yeah, no, not really. Linus did, ... | Hacker News

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		glaurent on Oct 27, 2011 \| parent \| context \| favorite \| on: Richard Stallman’s rider > he did change the system from the inside Yeah, no, not really. Linus did, by precisely following that advice : compromise and be practical. Yes, he couldn't have done it without rms's previous work, but without Linux, Free Software would have been all but forgotten by now. I'd also argue that one of the reasons why Linux is still at around 1% of the desktop market is similar : blindly following principles at the expense of convenience and practicality.

gjm11 on Oct 27, 2011 [–]

Without Linux, maybe Free Software would now be forgotten. Without RMS, maybe nothing like Linux would ever have existed.

Both RMS and Linus changed the world; I'd argue they've both changed it considerably for the better.

Why does it have to be just one or the other?

jrockway on Oct 27, 2011 | [–]

Because RMS doesn't comb his hair.

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