They really should just rename the site CapitalistNews or AntiHackerNews or MiddleManagementNews or PMTechNews.

Man, y'all are gonna be so mad when you find out some people work on OSS projects for fun or ideological reasons.

Again, a sentiment that needs repeating far too often here, not everything is about, or for, you.

I wrote a little kernel for fun in high school. I wish I still had the time to pick it back up again, or contribute to something like GNU/Hurd. Stuff like this is exactly the reason I became fascinated with programming.

Not everyone here is a joyless sack of shit yet.

People are missing the point of being asked here.

If "fun" and "idological reasons" are the reason there is a community around the project, then that is in fact the answer to the question, if a little vague.

For people still not understanding, it would be nice to have an explanation of what people find fun about it, especially as a user and not a developer, and what ideological reason exactly are driving it.

I'm glad someone gets it. I've been using Linux as my daily driver for about a decade at this point. I can understand the desire to hack on that for fun, because doing so would actually bring about a tangible improvement to my life.

I find the desire to work on a 30 year old operating system that still lacks USB support much more confusing.

As far as my understanding goes, there are 2 main reasons: 1. The very specific nature of the OS, which aims to be (in theory) very modular 2. You need to partake on a very clear idea of what software freedom means, in every sense of the word

I don't use Hurd, but I do get it. I feel it's quite simple.

Just because it isn't there yet doesn't mean one wouldn't want to hack on it from time to time

Again, no one is saying that everyone should care about Hurd. This just feels like an entire subthread about a strawman. I think your stance is entirely reasonable, and one I resonate with, but it felt like you expected Hurd enthusiasts to convince you that you should care. Which feels like missing the point, to me, at least.

Hurd is over 30 years old. It didn't get support for SATA drives until 2013. It still does not support USB devices, at all. Working on such an OS doesn't seem like it would be a good use of my time, especially when that time could be spent working on Linux, or a BSD.

Valuing my time doesn't make me a capitalist.

Hurd does not support USB devices, officially, just yet, but these are surely exciting times. Unless maybe you're a capitalist ;-) <https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-06/msg00158...>

> why we should care about it when more popular operating systems fit our needs better

Linux started this way. If Linux reaches a point where it doesn't fill the needs of its users/developers better, they will pivot to another alternative, and Hurd is one of those future alternatives. See it as future insurance.