My take is that most great social movers are usually zealots of one form or another and we don't have to agree with them 100% to align with their broad philosophical and political stance.
However, the GPL has been a founding bedrock. I don't think that we would have the free software movement at all without RMS and the FSF.
I think that most people don't really understand Richard Stallman's role in the movement. He is not supposed to be "the friendly face" of the Free software movement. It is his role to be an arse. The annoying yet consistent reminder of what the movement is all about. The FSF was *absolutely right* to take him back and he should never have left in the first place.
You may disagree with RMS on these points, but you surely would agree that he *has* been consistent in his stance on freedom, and TBH he was also right about free software. It really has won the argument and the fight, now that the big companies are moving to services rather than software.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
