3 ms·
While doing all of this catch-up is important, I think it would help FOSS politically (as it were) if there were something new and exemplary to come out. Signal
by orblivion 10y ago
While doing all of this catch-up is important, I think it would help FOSS politically (as it were) if there were something new and exemplary to come out. Signal is a good example (once they fix the Google thing, and BTW someone finally took up Moxie on the offer and there's a PR in progress). Maybe Sandstorm too (Plug and play web apps that are secure? That's kind of novel and useful if you think about it. And IMO they're doing a bang-up job with UI) If FOSS can shine, maybe it'll attract more help with the catch-up.
- moxious 10y agoFOSS often plays catch-up, because true innovation is really hard and takes a lot of time and resources. It's frequently too much to ask of an all-volunteer workforce. It's not that they can't do it (ultimately the people writing FOSS are the same people as those writing apps for companies) it's just that there isn't the same set of motives in place. This is why in earlier days, GNOME's goal was to catch up to Windows, and why a phone operating system (a pretty standard thing that everyone has) is now a target.
- thisrod 10y ago> true innovation is really hard and takes a lot of time and resources It's like Bell Labs, but instead of helping the phone system make money, we help free software take over the world. That's a really interesting idea. I wonder how the technical staff are going to avoid starvation?
- orblivion 10y agoIt's an economic uphill battle to be sure. I hope people keep brainstorming alternative business models.