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Politicizing software has all the appeal of proprietary licensing. This is just the inevitable fallout of our inability to have nice things. May all find joy

Politicizing software has all the appeal of proprietary licensing. This is just the inevitable fallout of our inability to have nice things. May all find joy in their choices.

energywut 1y ago
Open Source software is also political, it's just a political position you agree with. (It's a position I also agree with, fwiw.) Let's not pretend that the GPL is free of politics.
- smitty1e 1y ago
  I see the GPL as treating source code files closer to chess pieces, and insisting they remain in view. What partisan pretensions are on offer with the GPL are unclear. While a FSF member for decades, I take a syncretic view that the GPL is a crucial point on the licensing spectrum, and that economic value is maximized when there are products available across that spectrum for people to choose and use at will. I guess, if we squint, this might be something of a political position, perhaps a libertarian one.
  - energywut 1y ago
    Politics is not limited to specific parties or governments. Politics is also concerned with the principles of an organization within their sphere, particularly if those principles are about who has access to power. The FSF is very concerned with who has power within the relationship of software author and user -- namely that users should retain the power to redistribute and edit their software. If someone is trying to ensure a community retains power or someone is trying to ensure a community loses access to power, that's politics too.
- josephcsible 1y ago
  The GPL isn't free of politics, but it's only political in ways inherently related to intellectual property licensing. SQL Workbench is being political in ways unrelated to what it is.
throw2727218r 1y ago
Reminds me of Notepad++ and their stupid version names. If they stuck to just the names that would have been less annoying, but they had a release where it would automatically start typing a message. I stopped using it and stopped donating soon afterwards.

Politicizing software has all the appeal of proprietary licensing. This is just the inevitable fallout of our inability to have nice things. May all find joy in their choices.

energywut 1y ago

Open Source software is also political, it's just a political position you agree with. (It's a position I also agree with, fwiw.) Let's not pretend that the GPL is free of politics.

smitty1e 1y ago
I see the GPL as treating source code files closer to chess pieces, and insisting they remain in view. What partisan pretensions are on offer with the GPL are unclear. While a FSF member for decades, I take a syncretic view that the GPL is a crucial point on the licensing spectrum, and that economic value is maximized when there are products available across that spectrum for people to choose and use at will. I guess, if we squint, this might be something of a political position, perhaps a libertarian one.
- energywut 1y ago
  Politics is not limited to specific parties or governments. Politics is also concerned with the principles of an organization within their sphere, particularly if those principles are about who has access to power. The FSF is very concerned with who has power within the relationship of software author and user -- namely that users should retain the power to redistribute and edit their software. If someone is trying to ensure a community retains power or someone is trying to ensure a community loses access to power, that's politics too.
josephcsible 1y ago
The GPL isn't free of politics, but it's only political in ways inherently related to intellectual property licensing. SQL Workbench is being political in ways unrelated to what it is.

throw2727218r 1y ago

Reminds me of Notepad++ and their stupid version names. If they stuck to just the names that would have been less annoying, but they had a release where it would automatically start typing a message. I stopped using it and stopped donating soon afterwards.