4 ms·

I don't really understand why the tech-focused crowd has taken this up as some kind of proxy fight when by-and-large we gave up having root access to the machin

I don't really understand why the tech-focused crowd has taken this up as some kind of proxy fight when by-and-large we gave up having root access to the machines we do our day-to-day work on decades ago.

celestialcheese 4y ago
Because politicians care about farmers. It's a perfect proxy to fight for software freedom and Right-to-repair, because it mobilizes legislators from nebraska and other non-technical folks to speak up about issues that us programmers and techies have been harping about for decades.
- tengbretson 4y ago
  Programmers have been enriching themselves for years by creating the tools and infrastructure upon which the massive shift from CAPEX to subscription-based economics has been built and now they want to speak up? I don't want to hear it.
  - celestialcheese 4y ago
    Programmers did this? From my experience, programmers hate this industry shift to "rented" software, and it's the MBAs that have pushed this on us as they've infiltrated the C-suite over the last decade+.
  - snovv_crash 4y ago
    Programmers are also the only group who has been creating an ecosystem of completely free tools that anyone can use or modify for themselves with zero restrictions. Software has zero production costs and this enables all sorts of uses, moral and not.
  - AlexandrB 4y ago
    Cue a thread about how VSCode is a Trojan horse but nobody wants to stop using it because it's just so damn convenient. Edit: Or a thread about how users in western countries should not be allowed to run TikTok on their own devices because: China.
nicoburns 4y ago
> when by-and-large we gave up having root access to the machines we do our day-to-day work on decades ago. Speak for yourself. I've had root access to my dev machine at every job I've worked. In any case, not having root access because one's employer owns the machine is locking things down for security is very different to not having root access because the manufacturer prevents even the owners from having root access.
pdntspa 4y ago
YOU may have given that up, but I refuse to work on a machine without root. In fact, it's insulting to not give me root. I'm not working in software any more (hopefully I won't have to ever again), but when I was this was a dealbreaker.
omegacharlie 4y ago
Some people are of the view that as soon as we started allowing the government to prosecute people for writing code that can be used to potentially infringe others that the concept of open-source code distribution was too risky for certain projects. Other countries have also incorporated their own DMCA nonsense with varying levels of success so 'dont be American' is not a silver bullet either. However DMCA has yet to be challenged in the U.S Supreme Court so that is unsettled law.
cutierust 4y ago
I guess that's the very reason. I feel subconsciously repressed and want to take it out elsewhere with a better chance of success

celestialcheese 4y ago

Because politicians care about farmers. It's a perfect proxy to fight for software freedom and Right-to-repair, because it mobilizes legislators from nebraska and other non-technical folks to speak up about issues that us programmers and techies have been harping about for decades.

tengbretson 4y ago
Programmers have been enriching themselves for years by creating the tools and infrastructure upon which the massive shift from CAPEX to subscription-based economics has been built and now they want to speak up? I don't want to hear it.
- celestialcheese 4y ago
  Programmers did this? From my experience, programmers hate this industry shift to "rented" software, and it's the MBAs that have pushed this on us as they've infiltrated the C-suite over the last decade+.
- snovv_crash 4y ago
  Programmers are also the only group who has been creating an ecosystem of completely free tools that anyone can use or modify for themselves with zero restrictions. Software has zero production costs and this enables all sorts of uses, moral and not.
- AlexandrB 4y ago
  Cue a thread about how VSCode is a Trojan horse but nobody wants to stop using it because it's just so damn convenient. Edit: Or a thread about how users in western countries should not be allowed to run TikTok on their own devices because: China.

nicoburns 4y ago

> when by-and-large we gave up having root access to the machines we do our day-to-day work on decades ago. Speak for yourself. I've had root access to my dev machine at every job I've worked. In any case, not having root access because one's employer owns the machine is locking things down for security is very different to not having root access because the manufacturer prevents even the owners from having root access.

pdntspa 4y ago

YOU may have given that up, but I refuse to work on a machine without root. In fact, it's insulting to not give me root. I'm not working in software any more (hopefully I won't have to ever again), but when I was this was a dealbreaker.

omegacharlie 4y ago

Some people are of the view that as soon as we started allowing the government to prosecute people for writing code that can be used to potentially infringe others that the concept of open-source code distribution was too risky for certain projects. Other countries have also incorporated their own DMCA nonsense with varying levels of success so 'dont be American' is not a silver bullet either. However DMCA has yet to be challenged in the U.S Supreme Court so that is unsettled law.

cutierust 4y ago

I guess that's the very reason. I feel subconsciously repressed and want to take it out elsewhere with a better chance of success