Post AVwKVCUWg9ibdirjqy by mjg59@nondeterministic.computer
(DIR) More posts by mjg59@nondeterministic.computer
(DIR) Post #AVvcX8S8GlSDi5rHou by mjg59@nondeterministic.computer
2023-05-22T23:26:24Z
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How do the "free software is a meritocracy focused on technical excellence" people square that with Stallman having refused technical improvements that didn't align with his technical goals?
(DIR) Post #AVvcklI5BMV1vcegyG by dekkzz76@emacs.ch
2023-05-22T23:29:05Z
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@mjg59 you can't - it is what it iswhat brought this on?
(DIR) Post #AVvd6yTMquiRBNWeEi by BoredomFestival@sfba.social
2023-05-22T23:32:07Z
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@mjg59 something something "Free Software Song" something
(DIR) Post #AVvdIA71utD6T4Pblo by trochee@dair-community.social
2023-05-22T23:34:20Z
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@mjg59 i mean, if "technical excellence" is the criterion, i know a half dozen extremely talented women who stopped contributing because of RMS himself
(DIR) Post #AVvdYwpIZCZSBX7e9w by womble@infosec.exchange
2023-05-22T23:38:16Z
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@mjg59 I believe their main argument is "LA LA LA CAN'T HEAR YOU LA LA LA".
(DIR) Post #AVvdm7CvHWJy96S2Gu by porkroll@toots.matapacos.dog
2023-05-22T23:40:37Z
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@mjg59 For a lot of people, the essence of Free Software is that other people will do all the hard work for you, and all you need to do is slap it on a server and start charging rents. Their reaction is probably something along the lines of "OMG I can't believe they are making Free Software political!"
(DIR) Post #AVvfbOCjwk7PaHNYWW by Viss@mastodon.social
2023-05-23T00:00:36Z
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@mjg59 i imagine the same way the folks on imgur try to argue about security - brazenly, with no experience to speak of, before devolving into name calling and dipshittery
(DIR) Post #AVvnUgArXJjkvFoPI0 by phenidone@mstdn.social
2023-05-23T01:29:26Z
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@mjg59 obvious answer: the "meritocracy" is the market of free products, not the internal management processes of one specific project or dev group.Meritocracy doesn't mean nobody does dumb shit, it means that the dumb shit doesn't get the opportunity to control the market.Arguably that has come true with the ongoing decline of FSF influence with the decline and staleness of a lot of their core projects. Meritocracy in action...
(DIR) Post #AVw4OaDQTZpBvQgqNk by jeff7091@infosec.exchange
2023-05-23T04:38:46Z
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@mjg59 does he still chew his hair like he did in the 80s?
(DIR) Post #AVw92vu5ev9Wad8qKe by ojs@c.im
2023-05-23T05:30:52Z
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@mjg59 to my mind that was (is?) the difference between Open Source people and Free Software people. This is a rift that started many years ago.
(DIR) Post #AVwEIaHwI8m3xHZya0 by mjg59@nondeterministic.computer
2023-05-23T06:29:59Z
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@ojs These days the meritocracy people also tend to line up with the "Stallman can do no wrong" people
(DIR) Post #AVwEyw8rQlprtZWo0e by ojs@c.im
2023-05-23T06:37:40Z
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@mjg59 huh, did not know that. But sure, I bet the Venn diagram of the two groups is not overlapping a bit.
(DIR) Post #AVwFiRl0jTXayo4bcu by mjg59@nondeterministic.computer
2023-05-23T06:46:03Z
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@ojs These days there's a weird overlap of alt-rightyness and free-software enthusiasm which I think is a *chan thing rather than an intellectually coherent philosophy
(DIR) Post #AVwGnxQAXC7KaMW4Iq by ojs@c.im
2023-05-23T06:58:07Z
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@mjg59 ahh, ok, and the alt-rights are mostly meritocrats, right? I can understand why alt-righters are attracted to the free software movement on the surface. But if they bothered to dig deep, I think they would find issues 😏 I also wonder how much this overlap is mostly in the US. I don't think the overlap is that big here in Europe. Not that I am that familiar with the extreme right here. Know nothing about the situation in Asia, Africa, South America, or Australia.
(DIR) Post #AVwJ4i9wjJZU5F2q80 by whynothugo@fosstodon.org
2023-05-23T07:23:27Z
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@mjg59 What kind of technical improvements did he refuse because of this? (I'm not asking this in an argumentative kind of way, honestly just ignorant on this).
(DIR) Post #AVwKVCUWg9ibdirjqy by mjg59@nondeterministic.computer
2023-05-23T07:39:32Z
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@whynothugo The most obvious one in relatively recent years was plugin infrastructure for GCC, on the grounds it would potentially allow people to circumvent GPL requirements
(DIR) Post #AW04wgg3jc8eRcBWO8 by not2b@sfba.social
2023-05-25T03:03:30Z
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@mjg59 @whynothugo I was on the GCC steering committee and egcs before that; our principal service was setting up an arrangement where RMS would yell at us and leave most of the developers alone (he wasn't on the main mailing lists). We spent at least two years coming up with an acceptable approach to getting him to allow plugins and finally managed to do it. So plugins were finally supported. He regularly got a bug up his butt about some minor issue and had to be talked down. Eventually I burned out on all that and left.