Even at their most high-beam level of
intensity, they have a tendency to grow cloudy and
distant, like the eyes of a wounded animal preparing to
give up the ghost.
My own first encounter with the legendary Stallman gaze
dates back to the March, 1999, LinuxWorld Convention
and Expo in San Jose, California. Billed as a "coming
out party" for the Linux software community, the
convention also stands out as the event that
reintroduced Stallman to the technology media.
Determined to push for his proper share of credit,
Stallman used the event to instruct spectators and
reporters alike on the history of the GNU Project and
the project's overt political objectives.
As a reporter sent to cover the event, I received my
own Stallman tutorial during a press conference
announcing the release of GNOME 1.0, a free software
graphic user interface. Unwittingly, I push an entire
bank of hot buttons when I throw out my very first
question to Stallman himself: do you think GNOME's
maturity will affect the commercial popularity of the
Linux operating system?
"I ask that you please stop calling the operating
system Linux," Stallman responds, eyes immediately
zeroing in on mine.
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