Re:The War on General Purpose Computing
by userbinator on Monday December 05, 2022 @12:03AM
(#33861693)
This is why open source has become so incredibly important. Open source hardware and networks doubly so.
Open source is nowhere near as important as the right and ability to read and modify. The most popular browser is (mostly) open-source, and so is the most widely-used operating system. The megacorps are really happy to advertise the fact that they're contributing to and using OSS. Yet the situation is such that while you can see the source, it doesn't necessarily mean you have any power to do anything other than read it. What good is having the source if you're prevented from actually using it, due to various "security" features?
Contrast that with the rise of the PC in the 80s and 90s through the early 2000s and the slowly-dying culture that came with it. The majority of software was closed source, but it didn't stop people with a disassembler and a hex editor from analysing and modifying it.
Thus I think focusing on OSS is merely a distraction.
Open source is nowhere near as important as the right and ability to read and modify. The most popular browser is (mostly) open-source, and so is the most widely-used operating system. The megacorps are really happy to advertise the fact that they're contributing to and using OSS. Yet the situation is such that while you can see the source, it doesn't necessarily mean you have any power to do anything other than read it. What good is having the source if you're prevented from actually using it, due to various "security" features?
Contrast that with the rise of the PC in the 80s and 90s through the early 2000s and the slowly-dying culture that came with it. The majority of software was closed source, but it didn't stop people with a disassembler and a hex editor from analysing and modifying it.
Thus I think focusing on OSS is merely a distraction.