[Gllug] Talk by Richard Stallman in London, 12 Feb

[Kieran]

On Sun, 27 Jan 2002, Richard Cottrill wrote:

> I think you've just hit on the nerve of why the community at large thinks of
> nerds as being unable to communicate. In ANY description of communication
> the 'audience' (a loaded concept in communications theory) forms a part of
> the communication. To NOT pitch to one's audience is to be unable to
> communicate effectively. In this case RMS did not communicate effectively.

RMS was invited to speak.  As he is in numerous place.  And he was
invited because of what he has done, and what he has written about.

If you want a "cost of ownership analysis" speach, hire Eric Raymond.
The fact that someone thought it would be cool to throw RMS to the
wolves of the Australian government's procurement team (or whatever)
is neither here nor there.

> If he assumes that everyone wants to hear about him and his opinions rather
> then about the free software movement then frankly it suggests that not only
> does he have a problem communicating; but also that he's a touch
> egotistical.
>
If someone invites me to talk about Apache, and the audience turns out
to be .Net developers, is that my fault?

If anyone is at fault, it is probably the Canberra LUG, who invited the
wrong speaker, or promoted to the wrong audience.  But probably, it was
just an accident.

Blaming RMS for who turns up to a meeting in Australia, or London, or
wherever is deeply unfair.  (Blaming him for being unrealistic,
control-freakish, provocative or even a troll on the TCL lists is
another matter.  Please, shoot the right target if you have a problem
with it.)

Regards

Kieran


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