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Open source is the main thing that prevented cyberpunk dystopias that many authors imagined. This community deserves some love.

by Iv 9y ago

astrodust 9y ago
Let's be honest: It prevented some and created others. We got a wealth of free tools that allowed us to create things like Slashdot without crippling license fees and we got a wealth of cheap IoT and poorly programmed devices that can DDOS and bring down GitHub. In the 1990s the fear was that Microsoft would take over everything. Now the concern is that Linux will show up in places it has no business being, collecting data it doesn't need, and connecting to services that aren't necessary, all in what should be simple, dumb appliances like your refrigerator or washing machine. The kinds of hacks that were absolutely, hilariously laughable in movies like Virus are now quite plausible. Blender went berserk and set the kitchen on fire? Who would've guessed that's actually practical now, given a sufficiently Internet of Thingsy appliance.
- nvarsj 9y ago
  It's a bit of a stretch to attribute opensource with the rise of IoT. Those devices have plenty of proprietary software as well.
  - astrodust 9y ago
    Since the licensing costs are often zero it's made products possible that were previously impossible if they needed to license QNX, Windows CE or something proprietary. Open-source reduces friction. This is good in some areas and bad in others.
- c3833174 9y ago
  >Now the concern is that Linux will show up in places it has no business being, collecting data it doesn't need, and connecting to services that aren't necessary But linux is just a kernel and devices based on it are usually easier to reverse engineer. > simple, dumb appliances like your refrigerator or washing machine. Dumb appliances are not going away, you just probably spend too much time on websites that overhype ioT garbage.
  - astrodust 9y ago
    > ...you just probably spend too much time on websites that overhype ioT garbage. Buying a "dumb" TV these days is an exercise in frustration.
slackfan 9y ago
Prevented what exactly? We are living in the quintessential cyberpunk dystopia at this very moment.
digi_owl 9y ago
Free Software, maybe. Open Source, not so much...

Open source is the main thing that prevented cyberpunk dystopias that many authors imagined. This community deserves some love.

by Iv 9y ago

Open source is the main thing that prevented cyberpunk dystopias that many authors imagined. This community deserves some love.

astrodust 9y ago

Let's be honest: It prevented some and created others. We got a wealth of free tools that allowed us to create things like Slashdot without crippling license fees and we got a wealth of cheap IoT and poorly programmed devices that can DDOS and bring down GitHub. In the 1990s the fear was that Microsoft would take over everything. Now the concern is that Linux will show up in places it has no business being, collecting data it doesn't need, and connecting to services that aren't necessary, all in what should be simple, dumb appliances like your refrigerator or washing machine. The kinds of hacks that were absolutely, hilariously laughable in movies like Virus are now quite plausible. Blender went berserk and set the kitchen on fire? Who would've guessed that's actually practical now, given a sufficiently Internet of Thingsy appliance.

nvarsj 9y ago
It's a bit of a stretch to attribute opensource with the rise of IoT. Those devices have plenty of proprietary software as well.
- astrodust 9y ago
  Since the licensing costs are often zero it's made products possible that were previously impossible if they needed to license QNX, Windows CE or something proprietary. Open-source reduces friction. This is good in some areas and bad in others.
c3833174 9y ago
>Now the concern is that Linux will show up in places it has no business being, collecting data it doesn't need, and connecting to services that aren't necessary But linux is just a kernel and devices based on it are usually easier to reverse engineer. > simple, dumb appliances like your refrigerator or washing machine. Dumb appliances are not going away, you just probably spend too much time on websites that overhype ioT garbage.
- astrodust 9y ago
  > ...you just probably spend too much time on websites that overhype ioT garbage. Buying a "dumb" TV these days is an exercise in frustration.

slackfan 9y ago

Prevented what exactly? We are living in the quintessential cyberpunk dystopia at this very moment.

digi_owl 9y ago

Free Software, maybe. Open Source, not so much...