Posts by zipheir@functional.cafe
(DIR) Post #478416 by zipheir@functional.cafe
2018-09-19T07:39:20Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/what-point-mozilla This makes a weird point: Mozilla increasingly sucks at implementing open Web software, so it should become a full-time privacy/FOSS advocate. Moody mentions Mozilla’s obvious values-failure wrt EME, but that’s the tip of the iceberg—Firefox telemetry, deploying Pocket by default and the JS-injecting Mr. Robot bogus (https://www.cnet.com/news/mozilla-backpedals-after-mr-robot-firefox-misstep/) all come to mind.If Mozilla really wants to advocate for privacy, they can start by fixing their flagship product.
(DIR) Post #816434 by zipheir@functional.cafe
2018-10-27T18:19:01Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Non-commercial licenses continue to be stupid and unclear. This is a particularly terrible example (https://licensezero.com/licenses/prosperity). What is "a manner directed toward commercial advantage"? Some countries believe this means anything beyond personal use (https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140326/11405526695/german-court-says-creative-commons-non-commercial-licenses-must-be-purely-personal-use.shtml). Again, this is a poor one, but what do people believe that they gain by including 'non-commercial' language in licenses? #foss
(DIR) Post #9qZqxH0tXEEB68I38K by zipheir@functional.cafe
2020-01-02T02:49:04Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@sir Excellent post, thanks. "The most amazing achievement of the computer software industry is its continuing cancellation of the steady and staggering gains made by the computer hardware industry." --Henry Petroski
(DIR) Post #9sP8gIGV5P4QpMMam0 by zipheir@functional.cafe
2020-02-25T18:03:10Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@overflow Alternatively, it's "just a burrito"... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49QrtCF7RMM
(DIR) Post #9sfqePFEE9Wp0ZI7to by zipheir@functional.cafe
2020-03-04T19:33:16Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@wolf480pl Do you think they'd need a very different explanation than would an older person? "A shell is an interpreter for a language that you write into the terminal window" might be my first attempt.
(DIR) Post #9sfrM4obXpHIOBf6Mi by zipheir@functional.cafe
2020-03-04T19:44:04Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@wolf480pl I think it's possible to be precise about computing in simple language (c.f. The Little Schemer!). IMHO it's preferable to use some technical terms (like "interpreter") than to give people simplistic, or--worst of all--anthropomorphic explanations ("You tell the computer what you want through this, but you have to speak its language...").
(DIR) Post #9sgIpmDfwdEgAKm7vM by zipheir@functional.cafe
2020-03-05T01:14:49Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@wolf480pl I don't think I advocated for "introducing multiple new terms at the same time".Sometimes introducing a fresh term is a good way to clarify things, since a familiar term might come with lots of unwanted connotations. A challenge of explaining things in Basic/Simple English might be that it's hard to be precise with the language's basic vocabulary.Example: Simple English WP on programming languages: "A programming language is a type of written language that tells computers what to do in order to work." It's necessary to expand this a lot to explain that there may be many layers of abstraction, what it means for a computer to "work", and that "telling" it "what to do" does not mean the computer is conscious and capable of "understanding"!
(DIR) Post #9shcIuMOqiLe6BQ7Ps by zipheir@functional.cafe
2020-03-05T16:27:42Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@wolf480pl I was defining 'shell', and you could imagine me jabbing my finger at the screen instead of saying 'terminal window'. So that leaves 'interpreter' as the sole new term, hopefully.
(DIR) Post #9uU4dP5s6YmFxygxDU by zipheir@functional.cafe
2020-03-09T16:25:50Z
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@zig Indeed, GNU's mix of freedom-respecting values and rigid top-down organization is pretty bizarre. It's like something out of Rousseau: “We will force them to be Free!”
(DIR) Post #9uU4dPK3Fq7UfxKHJo by zipheir@functional.cafe
2020-03-09T16:31:12Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@zig Er, “GNU's mix of freedom-respecting values and rigid top-down organization is pretty bizarre.”More like ‘cathedral’, amirite?
(DIR) Post #9uU4tkTeMwhkv4bkQ4 by zipheir@functional.cafe
2020-03-09T16:16:43Z
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@zig "giving the freedom to ANYONE to run the program, for ANY PURPOSE: is socially counter-productive"It seems that you're proposing more restrictive software licensing.Do you have in mind something like the "no millitary use" licenses that people discuss from time to time, but expanded to include other groups that you would prefer not to use your software?
(DIR) Post #9uU4tkn9CSIhtXjJoG by zipheir@functional.cafe
2020-03-09T17:16:56Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@zig I really see the appeal of “Do Good” licenses. But, in practice, it means using copyright law to try to get people to follow one’s own ethics. Since this is generally not the kind of thing that countries expect copyright to be used for, the legal interpretations get really hairy.A very mild example is the [CC-NonCommercial](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode) licenses, which many people adopt because they believe that others’ profiting through their work harms them. There has been constant confusion about what “commercial” means in these licenses in various places. [Germany says it means anything that isn’t “personal use”](https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140326/11405526695/german-court-says-creative-commons-non-commercial-licenses-must-be-purely-personal-use.shtml), which is clearly not what most people expect.Regardless of what we mean in a software license, it will eventually be some random court’s interpretation that becomes the locally-correct one. That's a strong reason for me to avoid “ethical” licenses—I really have no idea what they mean!
(DIR) Post #9uVD0N7yZfChJw6Crg by zipheir@functional.cafe
2020-03-09T18:07:02Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@zig Bruce Perens has a good post on the difficulty of enforcing “ethical licenses”: https://perens.com/2019/10/12/invasion-of-the-ethical-licenses/
(DIR) Post #9uVD0NutdmKrlezH7I by zipheir@functional.cafe
2020-03-09T19:17:17Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@zig I’m sorry if you felt irritated when reading that post.I don’t think Perens ever called the GPL “laughable”. He’s taken an interest in the terms of the license several times, including his attempts to show that grsec was violating it by disallowing sharing of their kernel patches.I believe his point about sovereignity was purely legal. Many governments make it very difficult to sue them directly.