“But unfortunately, as far as Richard is concerned, if Ubuntu doesn’t meet his specific requirements around privacy or Free Software, irrespective that it has brought Free Software to millions of users and thousands of organizations, and despite the fact that you might not share his viewpoint, you should shun it.”
On Richard Stallman and Ubuntu is a response to a rant about the Ubuntu effort to integrate its desktop in a global environment to help users find what they are looking for no matter where it is. Some of the comments seem rather as confused as Stallman is. When you enter a search criteria in a program to find something, that program is not spyware nor is it spying on you. To claim is as such is spreading unnecessary FUD.
The core issue is a hatred of community when it involves anything commercial – the taint of money. Stallman fits here. There is an ideology that surpasses reason as well. This objects to the Ubuntu search mechanisms because it learns and adapts to the user rather than leaves the user as a complete, anonymous, unknown. That ideology is the antithesis of community. It is in learning your habits and preferences that computers are better able to help you find what you need. This is much like the general store owner in days-of-yore who knew you and your family and everything they bought. That enabled him to keep things in stock for you and to suggest new things he discovered that might be of interest.
Stallman et al have a few issues to work out when it comes to privacy, community, and social interactions.
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