4 ms·

I think you may be missing some historical perspective. Microsoft have quite the history of being extremely unpleasant toward free and open source software. Th

by cure 8y ago

I think you may be missing some historical perspective. Microsoft have quite the history of being extremely unpleasant toward free and open source software. There's also this list of more recent issues with their software: https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/malware-microsoft.en.html

tomnipotent 8y ago
No, not missing anything. Most of the stuff on the GNU list is highly subjective, and I don't consider Richard Stallman a voice of reason. Did Microsoft employ some aggressive business practices? Sure. Show me another modern-day company from any country that hasn't done the same.
- AsyncAwait 8y ago
  > I don't consider Richard Stallman a voice of reason. So what exactly has he been wrong about?
  - intern4tional 8y ago
    Not the parent but: Technical details I cannot think of anything off the top of my head; my issues would be with his motivations. He ascribes things to malice that could be easily attributed (and rightfully should be) to incompetence or out of touch with the customer.
    - AsyncAwait 8y ago
      > He ascribes things to malice that could be easily attributed (and rightfully should be) to incompetence or out of touch with the customer. So you're ascibing spying, tacking, inserting ads etc. all to "incompetence". Interesting. I'd definitely say it's malice. It's not "out of touch with the customer", it's making money at the expense of the customer.
      - tomnipotent 8y ago
        It definitely wasn't malice, but feel free to believe in whatever makes you feel better. The way people like to throw around words like "malice" and "evil" without seeing the ridiculous hyperbole is beyond me.
        AsyncAwait 8y ago
        You can say it wasn't malice, just 'business' or something like that. But in that sense, war also isn't awful, just 'business' etc. I am on the other hand amazed at how much Slack people are willing to give multinational corporations that don't presumably even have them on payroll.
        a1369209993 8y ago
        > I am on the other hand amazed at how much Slack people are willing to give multinational corporations that don't presumably even have them on payroll. "The only thing worse than a paid shill is an unpaid shill; sellouts at least have greed as an excuse."
  - tomnipotent 8y ago
    What has he been right about? Our industry seems to be doing just fine despite all the Doomsday crap he says is always around the corner.
    - AsyncAwait 8y ago
      It's good you're doing fine, but some of us noticed Windows tracking us and pushing ads on us, NSA spying and backdoors, Amazon deleting books and spying on conversations, Google tracking our location even when we opt out etc.
      - deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]

by cure 8y ago

tomnipotent 8y ago

No, not missing anything. Most of the stuff on the GNU list is highly subjective, and I don't consider Richard Stallman a voice of reason. Did Microsoft employ some aggressive business practices? Sure. Show me another modern-day company from any country that hasn't done the same.

AsyncAwait 8y ago
> I don't consider Richard Stallman a voice of reason. So what exactly has he been wrong about?
- intern4tional 8y ago
  Not the parent but: Technical details I cannot think of anything off the top of my head; my issues would be with his motivations. He ascribes things to malice that could be easily attributed (and rightfully should be) to incompetence or out of touch with the customer.
  - AsyncAwait 8y ago
    > He ascribes things to malice that could be easily attributed (and rightfully should be) to incompetence or out of touch with the customer. So you're ascibing spying, tacking, inserting ads etc. all to "incompetence". Interesting. I'd definitely say it's malice. It's not "out of touch with the customer", it's making money at the expense of the customer.
    - tomnipotent 8y ago
      It definitely wasn't malice, but feel free to believe in whatever makes you feel better. The way people like to throw around words like "malice" and "evil" without seeing the ridiculous hyperbole is beyond me.
      - AsyncAwait 8y ago
        You can say it wasn't malice, just 'business' or something like that. But in that sense, war also isn't awful, just 'business' etc. I am on the other hand amazed at how much Slack people are willing to give multinational corporations that don't presumably even have them on payroll.
        a1369209993 8y ago
        > I am on the other hand amazed at how much Slack people are willing to give multinational corporations that don't presumably even have them on payroll. "The only thing worse than a paid shill is an unpaid shill; sellouts at least have greed as an excuse."
- tomnipotent 8y ago
  What has he been right about? Our industry seems to be doing just fine despite all the Doomsday crap he says is always around the corner.
  - AsyncAwait 8y ago
    It's good you're doing fine, but some of us noticed Windows tracking us and pushing ads on us, NSA spying and backdoors, Amazon deleting books and spying on conversations, Google tracking our location even when we opt out etc.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]