He
also grumbles over Linus Torvalds' elevation to the
role of world's most famous hacker. He recalls a
popular T-shirt that began showing at Linux tradeshows
around 1999. Designed to mimic the original promotional
poster for Star Wars, the shirt depicted Torvalds
brandishing a lightsaber like Luke Skywalker, while
Stallman's face rides atop R2D2. The shirt still grates
on Stallmans nerves not only because it depicts him as
a Torvalds' sidekick, but also because it elevates
Torvalds to the leadership role in the free
software/open source community, a role even Torvalds
himself is loath to accept. "It's ironic," says
Stallman mournfully. "Picking up that sword is exactly
what Linus refuses to do. He gets everybody focusing on
him as the symbol of the movement, and then he won't
fight. What good is it?"
Then again, it is that same unwillingness to "pick up
the sword," on Torvalds part, that has left the door
open for Stallman to bolster his reputation as the
hacker community's ethical arbiter.
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