False attribution to Richard Stallman?

False attribution to Richard Stallman?

Posted May 15, 2003 15:56 UTC (Thu) by jdthood (guest, #4157)
In reply to: False attribution to Richard Stallman? by stuart_hc
Parent article: SCO suspends, Gartner warns

I am unable to find the McVoy posting you mention, but I took a closer look at SCO's quotation and noticed that this one is different from the others in not naming Stallman on the line following the quotation. It seems that this is a quotation randomly lifted from linux-kernel (... as it happens, from a severe critic of Stallman ...) for its useful sound bite qualities.

The other quotations are very misleading when presented out of context. Stallman does not in the least condone illegal copying, but the purpose of the second quotation seems to be to give the impression that he does. The third quotation is equally misleading. To the general public, 'hack' means 'crack', but we know that this is not what Stallman means when he uses the word.

SCO is engaging in anti-Linux propaganda. Disgusting.

For your reference, I append how the "Richard Stallman" section appears on SCO's webiste at 15:44 UTC on 15 May 2003.

Richard Stallman

"Linux is a copy of UNIX. There is very little new stuff in Linux."
Linux kernel forum

"I consider the law prohibiting the sharing of copies with your friend the moral equivalent of Jim Crow. It does not deserve respect."
Richard Stallman, Free as in Freedom, Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free Software: O'Reilly (2002) at p. 72

"The whole GNU project is really one big hack. It's one big act of subversive playful cleverness..."
Richard Stallman, Revolution OS (DVD)

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