8 ms·

I'm hoping what's next is: "With mobile and social media platforms having finished their market expansion, and their product categories having settled, privacy

by m12k 6y ago

I'm hoping what's next is: "With mobile and social media platforms having finished their market expansion, and their product categories having settled, privacy-respecting open source alternatives catch up in functionality and usability. Anti-trust and regulation to enforce privacy and interoperability ensure these new entrants get a chance in the market, and consumers have a real chance to escape the clutches of the behemoths" Tall order? Sure - but all progress starts with a dream.

dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago
The problem is they have enormous budgets for promotion and marketing, and they already own multiple direct channels. And the inertia effect is enormous - people simply don't like to change their habits without a very good reason. So the decisive factor is for people to understand they already have a good reason. I don't think this understanding is something mainstream yet though.
- wkearney99 6y ago
  understanding isn't mainstream so, yeah, inertia is certainly a factor, but the staggering level of tech incompetence among the masses is also a likely factor.
AshamedCaptain 6y ago
I'm not sure social media platforms will ever settle. I have already seen one round of proprietary IM networks being toppled and replaced with Jabber. Only for some evil bastard to apply a EEE strategy to Jabber and actually succeed, so we end up in the current situation of yet another round of proprietary IM networks. It is also not a matter of "catching up in functionality and usability". It will never catch up. Proprietary networks can build on top of free ones, but not viceversa. Also, every pseudo-feature introduced by a proprietary network soon becomes mission-critical (e.g. people will say free network X is not "up to the task" because one cannot easily send animated cat pictures with it, in the same way IRC suddenly became "not up to the task"). In summary, it is absurd to wait until free networks "catch up". They will never "catch up", for some users definition of "functionality and usability", and network effects will take care of the rest of users. The only way this works is if users are willing to actually prioritize free-ness and to actually trade off some features to gain it. Boycott closed networks, even. But that will never happen.
- merpnderp 6y ago
  > apply a EEE strategy to Jabber and actually succeed You talking about Google killing its Jabber compliance?
  - AshamedCaptain 6y ago
    There's more than one. Google, Whatsapp, Apple for starters. All of these 3 started from an XMPP server and then fenced it.
- hungryforcodes 6y ago
  My mom was never going to use IRC. But she DOES use iMessages.
username90 6y ago
Will happen the year linux starts dominating desktop.
- fsflover 6y ago
  It's starting to dominate mobile already!
  - coldtea 6y ago
    Isn't it insignificant in mobile? Linux dominating mobile should not be about Android using the Linux kernel underneath the scenes...
  - jaegerpicker 6y ago
    Android != linux anymore than iOS == BSD. Both have open source kernels but all the stuff that matters on both OS's is closed source. As long as there is money to be made on selling computing devices open source will ALWAYS be at a big enough disadvantage that it can't catch up. Simply because Apple, Google, Microsoft etc.... can take the ideas from open source and build it into it's OS's but Linux can't. I'd personally love if Open Source ruled the consumer market but that's not going to happen.
    - fsflover 6y ago
      I am not speaking about Android. I also did not say "started" but "starting". Here are the GNU/Linux phones with constantly increasing number of sales (but still tiny of course): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Librem_5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Librem_5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PinePhone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PinePhone
      - jaegerpicker 6y ago
        I love Open Source but I can't ever see them competing with Apple or Google. Literally billions of devices out in the world tied to services that are critical to everyday live. I think this war is already lost.
ryandrake 6y ago
Unfortunately, given today's new story[1], it doesn't look like at least one Open Source vendor is taking the "privacy-respecting" high road. 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26114194 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26114194

by m12k 6y ago

dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago

The problem is they have enormous budgets for promotion and marketing, and they already own multiple direct channels. And the inertia effect is enormous - people simply don't like to change their habits without a very good reason. So the decisive factor is for people to understand they already have a good reason. I don't think this understanding is something mainstream yet though.

wkearney99 6y ago
understanding isn't mainstream so, yeah, inertia is certainly a factor, but the staggering level of tech incompetence among the masses is also a likely factor.

AshamedCaptain 6y ago

I'm not sure social media platforms will ever settle. I have already seen one round of proprietary IM networks being toppled and replaced with Jabber. Only for some evil bastard to apply a EEE strategy to Jabber and actually succeed, so we end up in the current situation of yet another round of proprietary IM networks. It is also not a matter of "catching up in functionality and usability". It will never catch up. Proprietary networks can build on top of free ones, but not viceversa. Also, every pseudo-feature introduced by a proprietary network soon becomes mission-critical (e.g. people will say free network X is not "up to the task" because one cannot easily send animated cat pictures with it, in the same way IRC suddenly became "not up to the task"). In summary, it is absurd to wait until free networks "catch up". They will never "catch up", for some users definition of "functionality and usability", and network effects will take care of the rest of users. The only way this works is if users are willing to actually prioritize free-ness and to actually trade off some features to gain it. Boycott closed networks, even. But that will never happen.

merpnderp 6y ago
> apply a EEE strategy to Jabber and actually succeed You talking about Google killing its Jabber compliance?
- AshamedCaptain 6y ago
  There's more than one. Google, Whatsapp, Apple for starters. All of these 3 started from an XMPP server and then fenced it.
hungryforcodes 6y ago
My mom was never going to use IRC. But she DOES use iMessages.

username90 6y ago

Will happen the year linux starts dominating desktop.

fsflover 6y ago
It's starting to dominate mobile already!
- coldtea 6y ago
  Isn't it insignificant in mobile? Linux dominating mobile should not be about Android using the Linux kernel underneath the scenes...
- jaegerpicker 6y ago
  Android != linux anymore than iOS == BSD. Both have open source kernels but all the stuff that matters on both OS's is closed source. As long as there is money to be made on selling computing devices open source will ALWAYS be at a big enough disadvantage that it can't catch up. Simply because Apple, Google, Microsoft etc.... can take the ideas from open source and build it into it's OS's but Linux can't. I'd personally love if Open Source ruled the consumer market but that's not going to happen.
  - fsflover 6y ago
    I am not speaking about Android. I also did not say "started" but "starting". Here are the GNU/Linux phones with constantly increasing number of sales (but still tiny of course): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Librem_5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Librem_5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PinePhone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PinePhone
    - jaegerpicker 6y ago
      I love Open Source but I can't ever see them competing with Apple or Google. Literally billions of devices out in the world tied to services that are critical to everyday live. I think this war is already lost.

ryandrake 6y ago

Unfortunately, given today's new story[1], it doesn't look like at least one Open Source vendor is taking the "privacy-respecting" high road. 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26114194 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26114194