FSF announces publication of two new books by Richard Stallman

http://www.fsf.org/news/rms-newbooks

by Tsiolkovsky • 15 years ago

88 34 15 years ago

fsf.org

pohl2• 15 years ago

Is there a sufficiently free license under which we can modify and republish the text?

rglullis• 15 years ago

http://creativecommons.org/

anonymoushn• 15 years ago

I saw no indication in the article or at the site you linked that the books were licensed under any libre license.

sandal3• 15 years ago

I dug around for a while looking for this as well, since it was absent from the main announcement. But the ordering page for both books allows you to download a PDF immediately, without charge.

It looks like Free as in Freedom 2.0 is under the GNU Free Documentation License 1.3, and Free Software, Free Society allows verbatim copying by anyone, and translation by those who have been approved by the FSF (i.e. it is not a free documentation license)

Not sure how you get at the actual manuscripts, you may need to contact FSF for that.

EDIT: Here are the links to the PDFs

http://www.gnu.org/doc/fsfs-ii-2.pdf http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/faif-2.0.pdf

pohl2• 15 years ago

Free Software, Free Society allows verbatim copying by anyone, and translation by those who have been approved by the FSF

Thank you for sharing what you found.

I can't, in good conscience, read a book that only allows modification and redistribution by those in a privileged class.

Our basic liberties are under assault here!

Luyt2• 15 years ago

Thanks for the links, I appreciate it.

trotsky• 15 years ago

This is Free as in Freedom 2.0: Richard Stallman and the Free Software Revolution, a revision of Free as in Freedom: Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free Software.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License."

Say what you will about Stallman, but I've never heard anyone accuse him of not living by his principles.

jarin• 15 years ago

I've downloaded and converted the PDFs to .mobi so I can read them on my Kindle.

Luyt2• 15 years ago

You are free to convert any text to the closed eBook reading format. It'd be great if the eBook just was able to show open formats in a correct way (my Hanlin v3 is capable of that) -- it also can run OpenInkpot, a Linux for eBook readers.

gmartres• 15 years ago

How is mobi more closed than pdf? It seems to be well documented: http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/MOBI

listic• 15 years ago

What's wrong with PDF support on Kindle?

msbarnett• 15 years ago

PDFs are just a terrible eBook format. They bake in a fixed page size, usually 8.5x11 inches.

The Kindle's screen being physically smaller than that, your display options are limited to scaling an image of the 8.5x11 page down to fit into 4.8x3.6 screen, at which point fonts are generally too small to read, or attempting to reflow the PDF's contents on-the-fly, which is noticeably slow and typically only gives acceptable results if the PDF contained an absolute minimum of formatting.

larsberg• 15 years ago

Trying to turn pages on a PDF being displayed on a Kindle makes me want to punch kittens. Multiple. Because that's how much time I have between. Each. Page.

crazy2k• 15 years ago

How did you convert it? I tried doing that and it isn't perfect. Can you provide a link to the mobi? Thanks.

nddrylliog3• 15 years ago

Let's hope he can write better than he speaks.

edit: Oh come one downvoters. Stallman has done great things, and his scriptures are as interesting as the next guy. But he should stop trying to give conferences in French (and probably conferences as a whole). See the open letter someone wrote him recently - it was spot-on.

gwern2• 15 years ago

Your comment is maliciously intended and adds nothing to any conversation.

Further, if you genuinely wondered as to whether he is a better prosodist than speaker, Stallman is a prolific author with many essays and articles available online which you could read & judge.

(My own take, having read the originals of both books covered by the OP, is that Stallman is a perfectly readable writer. He will never win awards for his style, but he does not grate on the ear.)

nddrylliog3• 15 years ago

ma·li·cious /məˈliSHəs/ Adjective: Characterized by malice; intending or intended to do harm.

I don't think my comment qualifies as malicious. It might be an uncomfortable truth, that he's really not that fit for public speech and that his time is better spent writing programs and literature.

(Also, what does http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/prosody has to do with writing free software ideology? Last time I checked, he wrote in prose.)

GeneralMaximus• 15 years ago

Don't forget: he has written tons of documentation for several GNU projects.

mleonhard• 15 years ago

I think Richard Stallman would be more effective at getting his message across if his personal appearance was more in-line with the preferences of mainstream society.

pnathan• 15 years ago

Yeah, man looks at the outward. Unfortunately.

I suspect that RMS's message would be rejected however he dressed: it is antithetical to many/most forms of business as we know it in the US.

Actually, from what I've read of RMS, I'm not even sure how he envisions successful business to operate.

bitdiddle3• 15 years ago

I'm not sure what you mean, are you saying one can't make money using GPL software? Are you saying programmers can't charge for their labor? What message are you referring to?

I see many successful businesses, for example IBM, making money hand over fist using Linux. Linux of course is "free software".

adulau• 15 years ago

or Maybe that why you remember him due to his personal appearance...

I saw many talks in past years and I'll always remember the ones from rms but more for his message than his personal appearance.

bitdiddle3• 15 years ago

I would find this comment shocking and insulting if weren't trotted out so often.

One might argue with Stallman's ideas, but he walks the talk and he sticks to his guns.

StudyAnimal• 15 years ago

Two minor points. 1. The are not really new books. Both are new editions of older books. 2. One of the books is not by Richard Stallman, it is his biography written by someone else.

bitdiddle3• 15 years ago

definitely, both worth reading also especially for the historical context. I found the whole section on the Symbolics machine quite interesting as I was working on one at the time and was completely unaware at what was happening at the Mit lab.

J-L• 15 years ago

There's a bug in the online shop - the "add to cart" button for the first book doesn't work (second one does).

FSF announces publication of two new books by Richard Stallman

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