[Saad_M]

I don't agree 100% with the author, but I do wholeheartedly agree that the relevance of FSF movement definitely peaked after the ratification of GPLv3. After which, the relevance and political visibility of the movement has decreased significantly as we moved from PC/Laptops being our primary computing device to smartphones.

[sramsay]

I remember Stallman's obsession with "TiVoization," and I remember wondering if that was really the most pressing thing on the horizon at the time. I also find the claim that the goal of the FSF became "completing GNU for Stallman’s laptop" credible.

But I kept wondering what the future of the GPL could be under new leadership? Would a GPLv4 be even less congenial to a company like Apple (that is systematically trying to remove any trace of the GPL from its entire stack)? Or would it try to make some concessions toward the Linux kernel and the LLVM/clang project (for example)?

edit: missing word

[AstralStorm]

It still is an issue. Can you run your own software on the phone? How about its modem chip?

How many closed drivers and services are necessary then, because documentation is not provided and firmware is cryptographically signed?

Services have a problem related to copyright assignment and another due to lock in switching costs, but it's not something a software license can fix easily.

And whether protocols are copyrightable is somewhat of an open question. Others are fighting for open protocols and standards - and still losing. (Mozilla Foundation for example.)

[kgwxd]

The move to smartphones doesn't change anything. The only thing different this time around is too many people were willing to overlook the lack of control upfront, and it's hard to undo that. But it is being done and the FSF is an important part of making that happen.