Steve Jobs' passing away at 56 was mourned universally, but Linux's own Richard Stallman

In his feed, he said:

OPEN QUOTE "Steve Jobs, the pioneer of the computer as a jail made cool, designed to sever fools from their freedom, has died.

As Chicago Mayor Harold Washington said of the corrupt former Mayor Daley, "I'm not glad he's dead, but I'm glad he's gone." Nobody deserves to have to die - not Jobs, not Mr. Bill, not even people guilty of bigger evils than theirs. But we all deserve the end of Jobs' malign influence on people's computing.

Unfortunately, that influence continues despite his absence. We can only hope his successors, as they attempt to carry on his legacy, will be less effective." END QUOTE

Stunning, to say the least. Stallman seems to suffer tunnel vision, forgetting that Jobs made technology accessible to everyday users, which set the stage for Linux to prosper. Jobs redefined smartphones, and today we have Android thriving. Jobs bought Unix to Macs via Mac OS, and by defying Windows, he in some ways he has made Linux palpable as a consumer OS.

But then, Stallman IS Stallman. He never runs short of idea, be it good, bad or simply weird. He's opinions have always been strong, he's been a staunch open-source advocate, and he's never backed down. I can see why he felt uneasy by Jobs' charm gobbling up gullible consumers. 

Stallman has a history of weirdness behind him. He's had lunch of alien material scratched off his foot, he hates the iBad, and he attacked Google on Android being a rogue Linux edition. He's one hell of a fighter.