[-] beyond@linkage.ds8.zone 5 points 1 day ago

Not at all, really. Forking is fine and building a business off of it is fine (I don't personally see the value in it but apparently Y Combinator saw fit to invest in this so what do I know). Where they fucked up was replacing the existing free software license with some "AI" generated mumbo jumbo, because they were "too busy building" to "bother with legal."

You didn't have to "bother" with creating a license, because there already was one. No one in free software should be rolling their own custom license (GPT generation aside) because there exist perfectly good ones already.

[-] beyond@linkage.ds8.zone 35 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I'll be "that guy":

F-Droid is a software repository, not an app store. The distinction is subtle but important. A software repository offers a community-curated collection of software packages whereas an app store is just a marketplace for software developers to offer products to end-users. A software repository serves the interests of its community first, whereas an app store is merely a means for developers to sell products to end-users.

[-] beyond@linkage.ds8.zone 14 points 2 days ago

There are those who believe that F-Droid's role as a "middle man" vetting and building packages from source instead of blindly shipping builds provided by upstream makes it a security risk, because you're trusting F-Droid in addition to (some say instead of) the upstream developer. Perhaps telling is that none of these critics can offer an alternative solution.

Before anyone mentions Obtainium and Accrescent, these are not alternatives to F-Droid, they solve completely different problems.

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[-] beyond@linkage.ds8.zone 51 points 4 months ago

Notice they avoid using the exact term "open source" in this press release. I'm ~90% sure it'll turn out to be under some proprietary source-available license.

[-] beyond@linkage.ds8.zone 69 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I don't think the ffmpeg maintainer is complaining that Microsoft is using ffmpeg, rather that they are opening "high priority" bug reports based on customer complaints. This might be a high priority problem for Microsoft but that does not make it so for ffmpeg.

The license allows Microsoft to use ffmpeg but they aren't entitled to demand free labor from the project. Really, no one is entitled to do so, but Microsoft being a large company who can definitely afford to put money or talent on the problem makes it only that much more egregious.

edit: I would note that asking for help or reporting a bug is usually welcome, the problematic part is demanding help because it's a high priority issue for YOUR customers.

[-] beyond@linkage.ds8.zone 48 points 10 months ago

Discord is a proprietary centralized service that is hostile to privacy and third-party clients.

[-] beyond@linkage.ds8.zone 41 points 1 year ago

Google is also one of the most prolific contributors to Linux, and was the #3 corporate contributor in 2022. If you're avoiding everything Google had a hand in you literally can't use any GNU/Linux.

[-] beyond@linkage.ds8.zone 79 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

ChromeOS is Linux with Google’s desktop environment

Always has been. One does not "use Linux" they use an operating system built on top of Linux.

Chrome is not Linux, but Xfce also is not Linux. Gnome is not Linux. KDE is not Linux. Linux is Linux.

[-] beyond@linkage.ds8.zone 82 points 1 year ago

Software freedom applies only to hardware you personally own. It wouldn't even apply to machines you interact with but do not own (such as ATMs or kiosks) since you aren't the one who agrees to the proprietary software license.

Stallman himself explains it in his computing FAQ.

[-] beyond@linkage.ds8.zone 77 points 1 year ago

We live in a timeline where desktop apps all run in a browser, whereas mobile websites are all their own apps.

[-] beyond@linkage.ds8.zone 152 points 1 year ago

I say this as someone who is probably one of the biggest supporters of software-freedom around here, but bullying or shaming people for preferring non-free apps does nothing but incite resentment towards the movement. I value the four freedoms because I think I deserve control of my computing, not because I think it's my place to dictate what others should value.

[-] beyond@linkage.ds8.zone 47 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Reddit karma is a self-perpetuating problem. Karma being used as an indicator of an account's quality and trustworthiness incentivizes karma farming, effectively turning fake internet points into real money. This spurs the development of bots whose sole purpose is to farm karma by reposting old content from humans (and more recently using ChatGPT to generate comments) which then spurs the rise of human "bot hunter" accounts whose sole purpose is to detect and report bots "stealing" content. At some point reddit turns into bots acting like humans vs humans acting like bots.

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cross-posted from: https://linkage.ds8.zone/post/57641

I am not the author, although I find myself agreeing with several things he has said and have linked to his posts numerous times.

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I am not the author, although I find myself agreeing with several things he has said and have linked to his posts numerous times.

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beyond

joined 3 years ago