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The promise and freedom of open source has been exploited by the least egalitarian and most capitalist forces on the planet. I would never have imagined things

by lwhi 10mo ago

The promise and freedom of open source has been exploited by the least egalitarian and most capitalist forces on the planet. I would never have imagined things turning out this way, and yet, here we are.

deleted 10mo ago
[deleted]
pdpi 10mo ago
FLOSS is a textbook example of economic activity that generates positive externalities. Yes, those externalities are of outsized value to corporate giants, but that’s not a bad thing unto itself. Rather, I think this is, again, a textbook example of what governments and taxation is for — tax the people taking advantage of the externalities, to pay the people producing them.
- lwhi 10mo ago
  Yes, but unfortunately this never happens; and depressingly, I can't imagine it happening. The open source movement has been exploited.
ThrowawayR2 10mo ago
Open Source (as opposed to Free Software) was intended to be friendly to business and early FOSS fans pushed for corporate adoption for all they were worth. It's a classic "leopards ate my face" moment that somehow took a couple of decades for the punchline to land: "'I never thought capitalists would exploit MY open source,' sobs developer who advocated for the Businesses Exploiting Open Source movement."
- lwhi 10mo ago
  I'm not sure I follow your line of reasoning. The exploited are in the wrong for not recognising they're going to be exploited? A pretty twisted point of view, in my opinion.
  - ThrowawayR2 10mo ago
    Perhaps you are unfamiliar with the "leopards ate my face" meme? https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/leopards-eating-peoples-faces-party https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/leopards-eating-peoples-faces... The parallels between the early FOSS advocates energetically seeking corporate adoption of FOSS and the meme are quite obvious.
    - lwhi 10mo ago
      I don't misunderstand what you're saying, but I think it's a twisted point of view.
      - ThrowawayR2 10mo ago
        "The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it." - George Bernard Shaw
        lwhi 10mo ago
        But it's frankly not true, despite your desire to appear sardonic For instance, does Richard Stallman fit this mold?
        ThrowawayR2 10mo ago
        RMS' vision depended on as much adoption of Free Software as possible to both starve proprietary software producers and to get contributions of copyleft source code rolling back in to the FOSS ecosystem to make it unstoppable and he knew full well that most software is produced and consumed by businesses. So, yes, RMS fits the mold; he needed capitalists to adopt Free Software wholesale but failed to foresee how one-sidedly exploitative the relationship would eventually be. If you disagree, please explain how RMS and/or Perens do not fit the mold.
        lwhi 10mo ago

by lwhi 10mo ago

deleted 10mo ago

[deleted]

pdpi 10mo ago

FLOSS is a textbook example of economic activity that generates positive externalities. Yes, those externalities are of outsized value to corporate giants, but that’s not a bad thing unto itself. Rather, I think this is, again, a textbook example of what governments and taxation is for — tax the people taking advantage of the externalities, to pay the people producing them.

lwhi 10mo ago
Yes, but unfortunately this never happens; and depressingly, I can't imagine it happening. The open source movement has been exploited.

ThrowawayR2 10mo ago

Open Source (as opposed to Free Software) was intended to be friendly to business and early FOSS fans pushed for corporate adoption for all they were worth. It's a classic "leopards ate my face" moment that somehow took a couple of decades for the punchline to land: "'I never thought capitalists would exploit MY open source,' sobs developer who advocated for the Businesses Exploiting Open Source movement."

lwhi 10mo ago
I'm not sure I follow your line of reasoning. The exploited are in the wrong for not recognising they're going to be exploited? A pretty twisted point of view, in my opinion.
- ThrowawayR2 10mo ago
  Perhaps you are unfamiliar with the "leopards ate my face" meme? https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/leopards-eating-peoples-faces-party https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/leopards-eating-peoples-faces... The parallels between the early FOSS advocates energetically seeking corporate adoption of FOSS and the meme are quite obvious.
  - lwhi 10mo ago
    I don't misunderstand what you're saying, but I think it's a twisted point of view.
    - ThrowawayR2 10mo ago
      "The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it." - George Bernard Shaw
      - lwhi 10mo ago
        But it's frankly not true, despite your desire to appear sardonic For instance, does Richard Stallman fit this mold?
        ThrowawayR2 10mo ago
        RMS' vision depended on as much adoption of Free Software as possible to both starve proprietary software producers and to get contributions of copyleft source code rolling back in to the FOSS ecosystem to make it unstoppable and he knew full well that most software is produced and consumed by businesses. So, yes, RMS fits the mold; he needed capitalists to adopt Free Software wholesale but failed to foresee how one-sidedly exploitative the relationship would eventually be. If you disagree, please explain how RMS and/or Perens do not fit the mold.
        lwhi 10mo ago