Post AJ1bdN6jS7X9RL0CLA by arin_basu@mastodon.nzoss.nz
(DIR) More posts by arin_basu@mastodon.nzoss.nz
(DIR) Post #AJ1bdMVVgVl9ZtaTK4 by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-05-01T22:45:30Z
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@bob that's true. And I'm keen to change that aspect of gov't, as it's not in the best interest of the people.
(DIR) Post #AJ1bdN6jS7X9RL0CLA by arin_basu@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-05-01T23:43:01Z
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@lightweight @bob I hope NZ government takes inspiration from the EU https://social.network.europa.eu/aboutThe mindset needs to change from using Zoom to bigbluebutton or jitsi meet. I meet this resistance everywhere in the academia here as well, very few people are ready to use R/Julia/Python for their data analysis or LibreOffice to write their papers, instead jump into MS products and other paid options and brag about it. People used to laugh at me when I proposed #rstats at UC in 2007 when I joined.
(DIR) Post #AJ1bdNl91rrNSfuTKa by DrCuriosity@mastodon.social
2022-05-01T23:57:31Z
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@arin_basu @lightweight @bobI get the feeling that there are still a lot of academic administrators who are very firmly in the old school "no one got fired for buying IBM" mindset, and being lobbied heavily to keep them that way. Microsoft and other large vendors will happily do "deals" to make them feel flattered and keep them locked in, even when that still ends up costing the institution more than the increasingly reasonable alternatives.
(DIR) Post #AJ1bdOfrczEKIaRljs by arin_basu@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-05-02T00:13:09Z
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@DrCuriosity @lightweight @bob Yes, you are spot on!A few months ago I was discussing with a university academic in charge of digital learning about using virtual reality to classrooms and a project I proposed for consideration for courses I teach at the university. I was talking about using #mozilla #hubs when he told me how they were "influenced" by Microsoft to adopt the hololens for VR.
(DIR) Post #AJ1bdPMP4pG2QWLk2q by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-05-02T00:24:31Z
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@arin_basu @DrCuriosity @bob when the Hitlab first started at UC (I knew Tom Furness, the original Hitlab guy at UW in Seattle from prior to moving to NZ) we (Egressive) was their first commercial partner. All their software then was #FOSS. That rapidly changed when Microsoft started giving them funding... and exerting influence.
(DIR) Post #AJ1bdQ1sacR0V9krh2 by DrCuriosity@mastodon.social
2022-05-02T00:00:01Z
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@arin_basu @lightweight @bobAnd it sure doesn't help that they're unwilling to tell us just how much they spend on specific licensing agreements, claiming "commercial sensitivity" grounds so that we don't even get to know what "savings" they are or aren't getting.
(DIR) Post #AJ1bdQ40Si8UbkkZ0a by sj_zero@social.fbxl.net
2022-05-02T00:29:03.087923Z
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@lightweight @arin_basu @DrCuriosity Embrace Extend Extinguish never went away, it just got smarter.
(DIR) Post #AJ1qv07Z9ZCmfoFy6K by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-05-02T00:22:33Z
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@DrCuriosity @arin_basu @bob the thing that concerns me is that there's no such thing as "savings" (i.e. the word is laughably absurdist in that context) if the purchaser is only considering a single proprietary product from a monopolist.
(DIR) Post #AJ1qv1Ue3FGCvg3uiG by donkey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-05-02T01:36:47Z
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@lightweight @DrCuriosity @arin_basu @bob If I may offer my perspective: the only way to make this work is to not play to the financial side of things - and that makes it a really hard pill to swallow for those the IT Managers report to. As Dave alludes to regarding the savings - there actually aren’t *any* direct savings to be made because A) the proprietary stuff is generally bundled/discounted (1/x)..
(DIR) Post #AJ1qv2a00p8aIZZhhI by donkey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-05-02T01:41:16Z
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@lightweight @DrCuriosity @arin_basu @bob (and unbundling means paying full price for the bits you might still need). B) The cost of change is significant.Those two points make a *move* to FOSS untenable if you’re looking at it from a financial perspective.The motive should be about public good - freedom/availability of data - digital sustainability and keeping things accessible. (2/x)
(DIR) Post #AJ1qv3TIhDND45RrtY by donkey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-05-02T01:44:32Z
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@lightweight @DrCuriosity @arin_basu @bob Unfortunately that’s a fairly nebulous concept for most - non-technical or otherwise. Throw in the hugely conservative ethos in government (in the ‘safety’ sense rather than the ‘political’ sense) - the “how many other agencies are doing this?” and it becomes a massive barrier to any change. Without an overriding directive from the top, I’m not certain how to affect this change.(3/3)
(DIR) Post #AJ1qv4ERrv5TQJVWNs by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-05-02T01:46:44Z
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@donkey @DrCuriosity @arin_basu @bob yup. Needs to be from the top. Basically, I've come to realise that'll only happen if we can elect some *anti*-business politicians... and/or have some form of 'leverage' over said politicians. (I'll leave what that means to your imagination)
(DIR) Post #AJ1qv4tDQLhHSka4vY by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-05-02T03:19:07Z
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@lightweight> that'll only happen if we can elect some *anti*-business politiciansThey don't even need to be against business, just against monopolization. I'm hoping the spate of antitrust actions in the EU and US/UK - and particularly the bills currently going through the US Congress - are a sign of things to come:https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3816/texthttps://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/5017/text#AntiTrust @donkey @DrCuriosity @arin_basu @bob
(DIR) Post #AJ1qv7bFLc6drtCGps by donkey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-05-02T01:46:23Z
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@lightweight @DrCuriosity @arin_basu @bob (I called out “move” as I believe you could totally run a new organisation entirely on FOSS without much of a problem - transition is much harder).
(DIR) Post #AJ1rjSKUY69CdiMSWW by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-05-02T03:28:36Z
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@strypey @donkey @DrCuriosity @arin_basu @bob they also have to accept that TrickleDown Economics isn't a thing... and recognise (and dismantle) all of the current gov't policy that implicitly asserts that it is.
(DIR) Post #AJ1s7OhVgyKKKqXnQu by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-05-01T22:32:01Z
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It profoundly disturbs me that NZ gov't has made all our fundamental democratic processes dependent on foreign centralised proprietary software. for example: https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/the-house/audio/2018839821/select-committees-by-zoom-the-great-leveller (and all our select committee hearings are streamed only on Facebook Live). All this could easily be done using #FOSS hosted here in NZ.
(DIR) Post #AJ1s7PETiOhLz5y7ou by rysiek@mastodon.technology
2022-05-02T02:52:57Z
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@lightweight and it won't change until somebody sues some public institutions over it."As a citizen I have been unlawfully excluded from participating in public life of my country by the choice of a technology provider that requires me to agree to unacceptable terms of service."
(DIR) Post #AJ1s7PstI91a0QsOoK by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-05-02T03:04:47Z
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@rysiek yes, I've often considered that... to wit: https://davelane.nz/explainer-digitech-risks-school-boards
(DIR) Post #AJ1s7QSLALNfmNSi48 by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-05-02T03:29:51Z
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Thanks @lightweight for writing these explainer articles on tech topics for newbies. For a long time people like you and I have been voices in the wilderness on this stuff, but I get the feeling our stubborn commitment to our principles and the facts is finally paying off, as the full scope of the problem gradually seeps into mainstream awareness.@rysiek
(DIR) Post #AJ1sGnz33nlRM4EXD6 by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-05-02T03:30:20Z
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@strypey @rysiek here's hoping. :)
(DIR) Post #AJ1sU6LC7V5M3Mvr84 by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-05-02T03:34:45Z
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Although listening to Hayden Donnell on Midweek Mediawatch trying to explain the problems with social media as a general problem of under-moderation of the net, rather than one specific to zero-conscience corporate ownership and ad-driven datafarming business models, I can't help but think the journalists will be the last to get it ;) @lightweight @rysiek
(DIR) Post #AJ2SvPJlGkF14sa7xQ by rysiek@mastodon.technology
2022-05-02T10:25:59Z
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@strypey @lightweight you're not entirely wrong but also I write for a mainstream-ish PL media portal, sometimes about fedi. Here's an EN piece I wrote a while ago:https://vsquare.org/centralisation-is-a-danger-to-democracy/Perhaps let's not throw generalizations around.
(DIR) Post #AJ2X9MJHeEydcWGZWq by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-05-02T11:11:54Z
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@rysiek My post was intended as a comment on the situation in Aotearoa in particular, but also, you're hardly a typical journalist ;)@lightweight