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Interesting is that I got the opposite experience. As all the libre stuff I have been working on started to be used and contributed to by the very forces it tr

Interesting is that I got the opposite experience. As all the libre stuff I have been working on started to be used and contributed to by the very forces it tried to destroy. Why is it so great to work on free software when it ends up being used to sell more AWS subscriptions and by some Facebook library to sell more ads I realized libre movement is a mirage.... you cannot change the capitalist forces by writing a bunch of software Linux ended up powering Android, which is more closed than Windows ever was. Hurray I guess

flohofwoe 7y ago
The path to happiness when writing open source software is to create stuff that's (almost) entirely useless to other people ;) (I'm only half joking, just pick a niche topic that's fun for you without thinking of others, there's a huge terra incognita of fun-but-useless software to explore, and not many people venture there).
kabacha 7y ago
I think you misunderstood me; as much as I believe in libre movement ideology my point was from a more pragmatic point of view. Libre software is more fun to work with because you own it; it's open it's free and has community of people working on it. It's not some bits in the cloud that do stuff when you click a button and the only power you have is support email that will be replied by a robot — it's an actual open project that you can feel. Even if you are not a programmer you can hire someone to create change for you. Sure sometimes it's ugly, and sometimes there's conflict; sometimes it's insufficient and out-dated but it's much more spiritually empowering when you own the software and have the freedoms that come with libre software. It's much easier to enjoy technology when it's actually there.
throwaway092835 7y ago
permissive licenses allowed turning a social movement into unpaid labor for FAANGs. Instead of providing libre computing all the way to the end users, many developers are writing unpaid applications and libraries that will be locked down into some devices or SaaS. > I realized libre movement is a mirage.... No, the mirage is to think that we either fix the whole world in two decades or the fight is lost. > you cannot change the capitalist forces by writing a bunch of software Every single bit counts and makes a shift.
- shp0ngle 7y ago
  > No, the mirage is to think that we either fix the whole world in two decades or the fight is lost. Two decades? The "year of Linux desktop" meme is older than that. GNU was created 1984. It's 34 years old now. Software in 1984 was wildly different than now. But while free software is now more available than back then, it's not really much help to the world at large, is it.

flohofwoe 7y ago

The path to happiness when writing open source software is to create stuff that's (almost) entirely useless to other people ;) (I'm only half joking, just pick a niche topic that's fun for you without thinking of others, there's a huge terra incognita of fun-but-useless software to explore, and not many people venture there).

kabacha 7y ago

I think you misunderstood me; as much as I believe in libre movement ideology my point was from a more pragmatic point of view. Libre software is more fun to work with because you own it; it's open it's free and has community of people working on it. It's not some bits in the cloud that do stuff when you click a button and the only power you have is support email that will be replied by a robot — it's an actual open project that you can feel. Even if you are not a programmer you can hire someone to create change for you. Sure sometimes it's ugly, and sometimes there's conflict; sometimes it's insufficient and out-dated but it's much more spiritually empowering when you own the software and have the freedoms that come with libre software. It's much easier to enjoy technology when it's actually there.

throwaway092835 7y ago

permissive licenses allowed turning a social movement into unpaid labor for FAANGs. Instead of providing libre computing all the way to the end users, many developers are writing unpaid applications and libraries that will be locked down into some devices or SaaS. > I realized libre movement is a mirage.... No, the mirage is to think that we either fix the whole world in two decades or the fight is lost. > you cannot change the capitalist forces by writing a bunch of software Every single bit counts and makes a shift.

shp0ngle 7y ago
> No, the mirage is to think that we either fix the whole world in two decades or the fight is lost. Two decades? The "year of Linux desktop" meme is older than that. GNU was created 1984. It's 34 years old now. Software in 1984 was wildly different than now. But while free software is now more available than back then, it's not really much help to the world at large, is it.