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Richard Stallman’s Opinion On Dual Booting – “Defenestrate It”

By on May 31st, 2011     

We all know that Richard Stallman has some very strong, serious and unconventional views on software freedom. Well, someone decided to ask him his view on dual booting Linux with Windows. His reply? "Defenestrate it."

Defen what? Well, I must also admit that I have never heard this word before. According to Wikipedia, "Defenestration is the act of throwing someone or something out of a window." Stallman was, however, kind enough to include the meaning of the word in his reply.

Well, here is the question pecet wrote to him:

Hi

So my friend, let's call him Phlegmatic has dualboot with Windows, what is your opinion on that?

He claims that he's truely GNU/Linux user, but actually he using that Windows for gaming,

could you write something about dualbooting and why it is enemy of his freedom?

Thank you in advance

your truely

pecet

----

Sended from my iPad (not dualbooted!).

Stallman's reply was pure genius,

It is unfortunate that he still has nonfree software in his computer.

He needs to defenestrate it (which means, either throw Windows out of the computer or throw the computer out of the window).

--

Dr Richard Stallman

President, Free Software Foundation

I love the reply but I wonder why Stallman did not make any comment about pecet using "iGroan/iBad" to send him the email.

So, what is your opinion on dual booting Linux with Windows? Do you avoid it in favor of freedom or do it anyway for convenience?

As for me, I have been purely a Linux user for a very long time. However, with the poor support of my hardware in Linux, I decided to install Windows 7 alongside Linux. So, yes, I dual boot now and choosed convenience over freedom.




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  • Anonymous

    Love this guy and really admire his strong stand for software freedom.

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  • Spam

    I do triple boot! 3 different Linux distributions … none of them true GNU. So what? Am I a bad guy or a good guy or a no-so-bad guy …

    I prefer open over closed and convenience over struggle.

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  • Saverio

    If freedom is so important then why not dual-booting? After all you must be FREE to do with your computer whatever you want. If that includes a dual-boot, so be it.
    I have both UbuntuStudio and Windows 7 installed in my PC. The latter for gaming and video editing only. Yes, because the big majority of PC games publishing companies still don’t support Linux, and the few games available SUCK (very very much). Yes, you can use Wine, but:
    1. It takes time and nohow to install each game properly and make it work and…
    2. The game performance is drastically diminished (for obvious reason)

    Serious (or just decent) video editing? Open source projects for off-line editing software are still WAY behind. Unless Digidesign and Adobe (for example) decide to port their software to Linux, I’ll need a dual-boot PC or a separate Windows box.
    I like Stallman, but he should be more in touch with every day’s reality, and understand that beyond ideology lies a universe of real, every day, practical problems which require practical solution. I believe dual-booting is such case.

  • http://freebooter69.livejournal.com/ freebooter69

    I use Archlinux exclusively on all my PC’s. I’ve no reason or desire to use Windows.

    Hmm lemme see…

    Gnu/Linux & GPL
    Freedom 0: The freedom to run the program for any purpose.Freedom 1: The freedom to study how the program works, and change it to make it do what you wish.Freedom 2: The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor.Freedom 3: The freedom to improve the program, and release your
    improvements (and modified versions in general) to the public, so that
    the whole community benefits.

    versus

    Microsoft & EULA
    You give up all rights
    You accept all obligations placed on you for limited benefit
    You may not share the software
    You may not change the software
    You do not own the software
    You may only install the software to one device
    We reserve the right to change the license for any reason or purpose at any time
    You may only run the software as specifically spelled out in the EULA

    Seems pretty straight forward eh?

  • http://llewton.wordpress.com/ istok

    … leaving RMS’ worthy politics, philosophy and beliefs aside for a moment…

    “either throw Windows out of the computer or throw the computer out of the window”

    that’s pretty much how it works. there’s a point when the windows terror has to stop – endless defragmenting, virus scanning, spyware scanning, dashing around the web for drivers, codecs.. watching your once decent hardware crawl to a halt… talk about convenience, lol.
    well that’s very convenient.

    for folk smart enough to turn to linux, i recommend going cold turkey. much of that “oh i can’t find that program in linux, oh the buttons are in a different place” is just stockholm syndrome whining anyway imho.

    –
    oh – sended from my badassed debian xD

  • http://twitter.com/explodingwalrus Carl Draper

    My hdd space and my time is too precious to have Windows running alongside, besides the best way to rid myself of my game addiction was to get rid of Windows!

    • http://alaukik.myopenid.com/ Alaukik

      it is not like you cannot game on GNU/Linux .Linux game database | Database for native Linux games

  • Guest

    I also dual boot, but I only have a very small portion of my hard drive allocated for Windows, and that only for gaming.  Windows is basically a toy OS, so it makes sense that the only thing it’s actually good for is gaming. 

    All of my work gets done in Linux.  All of my important files are on the Linux side. 

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  • Anonymous

    I’m kinda ok with using Windows to play games. I mean sure, Linux does have some games that Windows and Mac have too, but when it comes to volume, Windows has the most of the games. And let us not forget about Freeware developers who make games with XNA or for fun (Think Dracula Cha Cha Or Iji). Those games are brilliant, and only avalible on Windows.

  • Prophet

    I dual boot for Crysis 2.

    • http://alaukik.myopenid.com/ Alaukik

      which can be played in GNU/Linux using playonlinux .

  • Myname

    I never dual boot.  If I need windows, I run it as a virtual machine.  My application that kills me is participating in webex teleconferences that even though Firefox on linux passed Cisco compliance tests, when the actual teleconference started, it said it required windows.

    • Andrew Websdale

      Yeah, its annoying when you’re forced into it for work, especially when its not even necessary. I had the same problem with Virgin media in the UK – to activate their internet you had to use their installer or IE (this was a few years ago – they may have seen the light by now)

  • admoore

    Yet another “ask RMS a question about proprietary software and have a flame war over his response”.  Here’s a hint:  Richard is the leader and founder of an ideological movement, it’s his job to respond from an ideological standpoint.  

    If you asked him this question and he said something like “Oh, yeah, well, that’d be ok I guess” — the tech press would have a heyday trumpeting “FSF founder is ‘OK’ with Windows!” or something like that.It’s like asking the Pope if he thinks everybody ought to be Roman Catholic, and then getting all worked up about “tolerance” and “diversity” when he says “yes”.

  • Tinybuzz

    First IMHO gamers are not computer users. They are… Gamers.
    Dual booting is like riding a 3 wheels motorbike. You are not good enough to make the final step.

    “I decided to install Windows 7 alongside Linux.” Muhahah you are the type to be defenestrate… And I’ll tell you why. Because you won’t admit to not have the latest hype in h/w performance. End of my troll.

  • http://duskfire.wordpress.com/ Duskfire

    I don’t need Windows for gaming – there are more than enough games on Linux to suit me.
    I use Windows because right now, Netflix won’t run any other way. And I’m unwilling to give up Netflix. But I use Linux for everything else I do online or off.

  • Joao

    I’m free to free myself from some freedom to freely enjoy some non-free stuff. If that does not include dual-booting, maybe that is because the very concept of freedom has a free arbitrary definition.

  • http://twitter.com/shawnlanglois shawnlanglois

    I use the best tool for the job. For the majority of my web browsing, email, and office productivity I use Fedora. That takes up a good 70% or so of my computer usage.

    When I feel like playing a video game, usually whatever I pick up on special from Steam, I boot into Windows. That’s maybe 20% of my computer use.

    If I need to do any video editing or sound recording, I use the MacBook Pro. While there are open source alternatives for both tasks, they simply aren’t as capable as what I can do with a Mac. This is roughly the remaining 10% of my computer time.

    Software freedom is a noble enough cause, but I refuse to let it dictate what I do with my machines and my time. 

  • http://profiles.google.com/pankaj86 Pankaj Pandey

    I dual boot.
    Fedora latest and Fedora rawhide :)
    I have never felt the need for windows (well, done away with anything that needed it) ever since i switched to linux about 4 years ago

  • drboyd

    Freedom is the ability to choose whatever software you want, whether purchased (Apple, Windows) or free (Linux, BSD, etc).

  • JAPrufrock

    You need Windows to print? Solution>defenestrate your printer.

  • Pont Junk

    Haha, Stallman and his rasism :P But I purly agree with him though…

  • Bartonphillips

    My primary desktop computer has only Ubuntu 11.04 on it; however, my laptop came with Window$ 7 Home and I have left it on a small partition. My main laptop partition has Ubuntu 11.04. I do sometime boot Window$ to test my websites on IE9 but other than that it’s Linux all the way all the time.

  • Rich3800

    I use Windows 7 inside a virtual machine on Linux. I have a Novatel USB wireless broadband adapter which is unofficially supported under Linux and using with the Datajack service.  The service has to be activated under Windows, but then, you’re home free, if you some additional Linux software. I save $30/month versus the AT&T wireless broadband service.

  • Shawn Corey

    Windows, just say, “No!”

  • Flipper_r

    Well, I must admit that about 5 years ago I set a dual-boot system with Ubuntu and Vista….  6 months after, I realized that I had not touched Vista at all…(not to mention that I had no software for Vista anyway…)  So I then upgraded to the next release of Ubuntu and got rid of Vista.  No regrets, I’ve not gone back.

  • Andrew Websdale

    I love old Stallman – he’s a hero of the Free software movement. Its rare these days to encounter a consistent philosophical stance like his, untainted by paid-for hypocrisy. It’s certainly NOT about “purchased” versus “free as in beer” – its about “restricted & limited”  versus “free as in Freedom”. Many people need or want commercial support for their free software – not everyone is a geek. But then at least all your money is going on support, not just to buy a “licence” that actually removes your rights rather than strengthening your rights.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/archiestrider Prateek Agrawal

    I hav the same suitation as above..
    dual boot fedora and windows…
    total fedora usage except gaming…

  • Seeker5528

    I’m pretty sure the software I use doesn’t care about *it’s* freedom as much as I care about *my* freedom, so I say if you want to go ahead and dual boot for freedom.

    Sure in an ideal world all software would be open source, but I live in the real world, open source needs to compete on it’s merits/design/functionality as much as it’s ideals.

    I would prefer to play all my games in Linux, but the Wine+driver+OpenGL performance makes that difficult and even if you stick with games that have native binaries, they may not perform well for those of us who prefer to stick with open source drivers.

  • http://alaukik.myopenid.com/ Alaukik

    you seem mention rms and yet call GNU/Linux as Linux

  • BrentRBrian

    Win7_64 and Fedora 14 … VM’s everywhere else (mostly for linux)

  • Sensei2.6.39

    “If freedom is so important then why not dual-booting? After all you must be FREE to do with your computer whatever you want. If that includes a dual-boot, so be it.”

    That’s incredibly naive.  It’s obvious that you’ve never bothered to read the Windows EULA.  Arguing from a basis of ignorance is rarely compelling.  

    The simple fact of the matter is if you read the EULAs (because they’ve gotten worse over time…) you’d see that only one side is interested in stipulating how you can use you computer, only one side is interested in abridging your freedoms.

    But the greatest joke of all is you, using your freedom to justify abridging your freedom…

  • eMan Amini

    Wow excellent reply :)

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  • http://twitter.com/IvorSmashman Matthew Ashman

    Actually, there is one very important reason to use Windows: to test Free Software on it, as having such software available on there is a very good way of getting people to eventually migrate to using GNU/Linux OSes… (same goes for OS X, which, bar being not a bad operating system, is on a similar level, freedom-wise, as Windows).

  • Anonymous

    I use Ubuntu (+some other Linux distros such as Fedora) in tetra-boot mode :)



Richard Stallman’s Opinion On Dual Booting – “Defenestrate It” was originally published on Digitizor.com on May 31, 2011 - 3:29 am (Indian Standard Time)