1. The GNU project only got their precious “hurd” kernel done a few years ago, after almost twenty years of (stalled) development. This, in contrast to the Linux kernel, which Torvalds basically whipped up as a hobby project at the beginning. (It’s grown exponentially since then, of course.) Stallman’s precious “GNU tools” would be damn near useless if it wasn’t for the Linux kernel.

2. Stallman’s petty spasm’s over whether people call it “GNU/Linux” or not are an indication that a formerly-great man has begun to slip into mediocrity. (He’s become essentially a shrill, denunciatory blowhard of late — witness his pathetic tirades against the folks over at http://www.opensource.org — who he considers to be either traitors or worse.

3. He’s no longer able to dictate policy, because the movement has simply grown beyond him. It’s no longer merely his pet crusade.

This is basically the last straw. Look what happened to Xfree86 when THEY started screwing with their license-terms (Hint: most linux distros use X.org’s version now.) Projects fork. When people became concerned that Limewire might capitulate to the anti-p2p activists or even be destroyed as a company, the “frostwire” project forked off of them. That’s the beuty of Open-source/”free” software: nobody can “rule” it, in the way that proprietary stuff can be ruled. The “four freedoms” that Stallman himself supposedly champions essentially guarantee that if he continues to deteriorate like this, he — and the GNU project — will fade even further into the periphery, and be replaced by a better viewpoint (namely that expressed by Eric S. Raymond and the “open source initiative”).

Stallman’s power-tripping again, is all.