Oct 13, 2011

Steve Jobs Vs Richard Stallman


I am sure this is not the first time you are reading about Richard Stallman’s remarks on Steve Jobs – “I’m not glad he’s dead, but I’m glad he’s gone.” But that's not why I am posting this. I have seen and heard a lot of buzz comparing Jobs with Edison and even with Einstein! I'd say Stallman is a philosopher, who often talk about his beliefs, as he did before and most of the societal, euphemistic people -- who are more to myths than facts, may call this remark rubbish. It may be, or may be not. But I am glad he spoke out.

Steve Jobs was great and remain great for centuries to come. As far as the computing, technology and it’s adaptability are concerned (from within my circle of concern), I do not think Steve Jobs has done much. I do not use any of the apple products, they're beyond the dream of an average third world country fellow. On the other hand, Richard Stallman helped poor nations adopt to technology and enhanced them and improved their education, science, technology, health care, etc which in turn contribute to development of the nation with GNU project. I am a great dreamer of equality, and not much in to business and money-making.


Steve Jobs, a man with great perspective on user-experience (a.k.a. UX) has built some great gadgets that everyone liked. Kudos! And, he used all his skills and spent all his efforts on running a huge business out of it and made billions. I’d say, unlike Stallman, most of Jobs’ achievements fall to ‘Media and Entertainment.’ That’s is perfectly okay. He was a born business man -- a business man with high moral values and business ethics, that his customers know. Well, does that matter to me? Nope! And, Stallman’s efforts? Yes, they do, that’s why I am blogging now (I didn't mean blogger).

Apps developed for Mac/iPod/iPad/etc are compiled with GCC, which is a gnu project. GNU is Stallman's initiative. When you use your Apple products, nobody remembers the GNU efforts behind it, intellectually. The same applies for the BSD operating system behind OS X. That's why I call Jobs a business man who put all the best things together. Awesome! For me, personally, GNU and FOSS matter a lot more than anything from Apple and I owe to FOSS freaks more than you can imagine. Looking at my personal and professional life, Jobs has no place there; but I can’t live a day without FOSS, not a single day.

I admire Jobs for his creativity (and, of course, his history), and Stallman for his humanity and philosophy. RIP Steve Jobs. We'll miss you.

2 comments:

GASP3R said...

that's perfect portrayal of both personalities. i always believed Jobs deserve the praise for the no-compromise character he always had. Finally, what concerned me,till-date, is the MAN.

+1 for the way u argued.

Anirban said...

Your topic is "Steve Jobs Vs Richard Stallman".Richard Stallman is a pioneer of the GNU Project and free software movement. On the other hand Steve Jobs is a pioneer of computer.

Regards,
Anirban
content writing

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