Whatever the reason I doubt it has anything to do with closed software or his free software philosophy.  There are plenty of completely Free ways to get online.  Perhaps he lives in a place where you can't get broadband, and only bothers to dial up a couple of times a day.  Or perhaps he simply doesn't want a permanent Internet connection because he doesn't feel a need for it.<p>Actually there have been at least a couple of threads about working without internet on a some of the RV/nomad threads here, and based on those I'm considering trying pulling the plug on my internet connection for 4 hours at a time when working to see what it will do be my ability to focus on the task at hand and not get distracted by hacker news.  Perhaps Stallman has a similar approach.