Wow. This isn’t a fictional story – it’s a real email conversation.
Richard Stallman (2005-04-23, Link):
Stefan, can you work on that [change to Emacs]?Stefan Monnier (2005-04-25, Link):
I just got a baby girl and am kind of swamped.Richard Stallman (2005-04-26, Link):
I am sorry to hear it. Unless someone else can figure these things out, I guess the release has to wait until you have time.Nick Roberts (2005-04-26, Link):
Congratulations, Stefan! I suggest that you spend any spare time with your daughter as she will grow up before you know it. Emacs, on the other hand, will still be around after she has left home.Richard Stallman (2005-04-27, Link):
It doesn’t take special talents to reproduce–even plants can do it. On the other hand, contributing to a program like Emacs takes real skill. That is really something to be proud of.It helps more people, too.
Original Source: Edward O’Connor’s blog, Links listed above.
Even more bizarrely, a number of Stallman fans comment on the thread to defend him and his disregard for anyone or anything other than Emacs. It’s odd how some people view everything Stallman says with religious reverence. On a similar note, I saw this the other day while looking around at open-source video editing software:
Richard M. Stallman has said, more than once, that the one justifiable reason to use proprietary software is that there is no free software equivalent available. I’m afraid that this is the case in the video editing world — and will be for a long time to come. Video editing is an incredibly complex computer task. (Source)
How strange – as if this guy has to get permission from Stallman before he decides what software to use.