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I don't think you understand. Most people consciously using free software do not read the source code, or modify it. The value of libre software is no less to t

I don't think you understand. Most people consciously using free software do not read the source code, or modify it. The value of libre software is no less to them - it only takes one canary or developer to alert the community of issues in the source code, so making an argument based on the fact that most people don't read source code or even can is bunk - that's always been true and the community has reaped the benefits of libre software anyways. Now if you want to talk about real bloat, like JavaScript libraries, then you are citing a malignant practice anyways. There is no world in which we should compromise libre software principles so we can mindlessly continue using Javascript bloat, which should be taken out back and shot even if you aren't concerned about libre philosophy.

ivan_gammel 5y ago
> Most people consciously using free software do not read the source code, or modify it. The value of libre software is no less to them - it only takes one canary or developer to alert the community of issues in the source code, so making an argument based on the fact that most people don't read source code or even can is bunk - that's always been true and the community has reaped the benefits of libre software anyways. I understand this too well. You say: “one canary developer”. If our software was built in hope that someone will bring the canary to ensure quality, we would have terrible software. It is surely nice to have this opportunity, but you don’t have to release your software under GPL for that. Hiring QA or white hat team could work even better. I’m not saying that open source software does not work: there are of course some successful projects. It is just minority of the entire codebase, and not all open source software is released under licenses endorsed by FSF. If we care about our rights, we should think what could be the appropriate way to build trust in the software made by Google, Okta or Salesforce, because open source battle is lost there. > Now if you want to talk about real bloat, like JavaScript libraries… No, I do not want to talk about that mess. That particular example won’t prove anything. Sorry. :)

ivan_gammel 5y ago

> Most people consciously using free software do not read the source code, or modify it. The value of libre software is no less to them - it only takes one canary or developer to alert the community of issues in the source code, so making an argument based on the fact that most people don't read source code or even can is bunk - that's always been true and the community has reaped the benefits of libre software anyways. I understand this too well. You say: “one canary developer”. If our software was built in hope that someone will bring the canary to ensure quality, we would have terrible software. It is surely nice to have this opportunity, but you don’t have to release your software under GPL for that. Hiring QA or white hat team could work even better. I’m not saying that open source software does not work: there are of course some successful projects. It is just minority of the entire codebase, and not all open source software is released under licenses endorsed by FSF. If we care about our rights, we should think what could be the appropriate way to build trust in the software made by Google, Okta or Salesforce, because open source battle is lost there. > Now if you want to talk about real bloat, like JavaScript libraries… No, I do not want to talk about that mess. That particular example won’t prove anything. Sorry. :)