6 ms·

Anduril is a big user of Nix and wanted to sponsor a conference, which upset some people because they're a part of the military industrial complex.

rijoja 2y ago
> "Much of the frustration has risen from inaction by authoritative figures. Whether inconsiderate sponsorship, conflicts of interest, harmful conduct, or a refusal to collaborate, these actions have repeatedly affirmed such positions of authority as the effective owners of Nix with no consequence." Right so the author of the post in question, is in favour of Nix taking sponsorship from Andruil, or against it?
- chpatrick 2y ago
  It sounds like the author is annoyed that Anduril didn't get sent away (immediately) yes. As far as I know that was actually up to the conference organisers though, not the Nix project.
  - rijoja 2y ago
    Right thanks for clearing that out!
- Brian_K_White 2y ago
  The author of the post is saying that the problem is the sponsorship not considering the community. Their own opinion doesn't necessarily matter if they don't choose to be writing an opinion piece. They are partially writing an opinion piece, but not about their opinion about working with the military. They are writing about Nix leadership vs Nix community.
weinzierl 2y ago
Just to add some more context: This is not a flash in the pan, but a drama unfolding for some months. https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/08/nixcon_drops_anduril_industries_as/ https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/08/nixcon_drops_anduril_... There was also a longer discussion on HN 7 months ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37418351 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37418351
- nebulous1 2y ago
  That does seem to be a separate instance though, so it was never really properly resolved at that stage. The reason that Anduril was dropped as a sponsor for the 2023 EU conference was that the venue wouldn't allow the association. This time the NA venue did not have that policy, so the sponsorship went through.
BlueTemplar 2y ago
And yet, unlike Guix, the Nix community doesn't seem to be bothered by using a part of the military industrial (spying) complex that is the Microsoft-owned Github.
- chpatrick 2y ago
  I mean GitHub can spy on your... public open source code?
  - dscottboggs 2y ago
    It's not just about privacy, it's about building your project as dependent on an organization that does harm. It aligns you with them and makes you want them to succeed so that you can sustain your project, when without that dependency you may have otherwise wished them ill.
    - bamboozled 2y ago
      How on earth are any of the Nix foundations project "dependent" on GitHub? I mean they even have their own independent build system?
      - rijoja 2y ago
        There's this whole concept of "Embrace, Extend Extinguish", that a lot of people in the open source community hasn't forgotten about, and therefore find it hard to trust anything that Microsoft is about.
        chpatrick 2y ago
        What's the most recent thing Microsoft extinguished?
        dscottboggs 2y ago
        Probably Atom
Cacti 2y ago
The majority of the tech industry is part of the military industrial complex. It's a shame more don't realize that.

rijoja 2y ago

> "Much of the frustration has risen from inaction by authoritative figures. Whether inconsiderate sponsorship, conflicts of interest, harmful conduct, or a refusal to collaborate, these actions have repeatedly affirmed such positions of authority as the effective owners of Nix with no consequence." Right so the author of the post in question, is in favour of Nix taking sponsorship from Andruil, or against it?

chpatrick 2y ago
It sounds like the author is annoyed that Anduril didn't get sent away (immediately) yes. As far as I know that was actually up to the conference organisers though, not the Nix project.
- rijoja 2y ago
  Right thanks for clearing that out!
Brian_K_White 2y ago
The author of the post is saying that the problem is the sponsorship not considering the community. Their own opinion doesn't necessarily matter if they don't choose to be writing an opinion piece. They are partially writing an opinion piece, but not about their opinion about working with the military. They are writing about Nix leadership vs Nix community.

weinzierl 2y ago

Just to add some more context: This is not a flash in the pan, but a drama unfolding for some months. https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/08/nixcon_drops_anduril_industries_as/ https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/08/nixcon_drops_anduril_... There was also a longer discussion on HN 7 months ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37418351 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37418351

nebulous1 2y ago
That does seem to be a separate instance though, so it was never really properly resolved at that stage. The reason that Anduril was dropped as a sponsor for the 2023 EU conference was that the venue wouldn't allow the association. This time the NA venue did not have that policy, so the sponsorship went through.

BlueTemplar 2y ago

And yet, unlike Guix, the Nix community doesn't seem to be bothered by using a part of the military industrial (spying) complex that is the Microsoft-owned Github.

chpatrick 2y ago
I mean GitHub can spy on your... public open source code?
- dscottboggs 2y ago
  It's not just about privacy, it's about building your project as dependent on an organization that does harm. It aligns you with them and makes you want them to succeed so that you can sustain your project, when without that dependency you may have otherwise wished them ill.
  - bamboozled 2y ago
    How on earth are any of the Nix foundations project "dependent" on GitHub? I mean they even have their own independent build system?
    - rijoja 2y ago
      There's this whole concept of "Embrace, Extend Extinguish", that a lot of people in the open source community hasn't forgotten about, and therefore find it hard to trust anything that Microsoft is about.
      - chpatrick 2y ago
        What's the most recent thing Microsoft extinguished?
        dscottboggs 2y ago
        Probably Atom

Cacti 2y ago

The majority of the tech industry is part of the military industrial complex. It's a shame more don't realize that.