Re: [gentoo-user] from Firefox52: NO pure ALSA?, WAS: Firefox 49.0 & Youtube... Audio: No

[Neil Bothwick]

On Sat, 17 Dec 2016 01:36:21 -0800, Daniel Campbell wrote:

> > Really, no one is forcing you to use anything. If you don't like the
> > way particular piece of software is going, you can get a full refund
> > and switch to something else.

> That argument doesn't really offer anything of substance in return.
> Yeah, "just use something else", until whatever entity has completely
> owned the platform. What then? Switch platforms ad nauseum?

We're not really talking about platforms. It's not like this is being
baked into the kernel.

> At some
> point, you need to take some sort of action. Talking about it is a good
> start. It helps formulate and refine ideas that can turn into real,
> tangible action. Usually it just ends in a fork; though there's nothing
> wrong with that. It's a feature, not a bug.

Taking action is good, but too many of these threads are just people
blowing off steam and result in nothing useful.

> I get where you're coming from, but Walter's talking about a real
> concern when it comes to libre software and corporate involvement. The
> profit motive has the potential to devastate community-oriented
> operations, be they libre software, swimming pools, common areas,
> municipal Internet, or even housing efforts. That potential for damage
> should be baked into any community-based operation's decision-making
> process. Sometimes a partnership can be great (like getting hosting from
> a reseller for a rebate in return for some consulting or mentoring on
> the side),

As long as the software remains libre, which is usually ensured by the
GPL, there is no requirement for the community to follow the direction of
the corporates. But it takes someone to do something tangible about it,
not just complain on a mailing list that I doubt any of the Red Hat
management read. Adding in personal accusations and insults (not that
Walter did such but other in this thread have) only serves to further
dilute any effectiveness it may have had.

> sometimes it's bad (losing license to a given piece of
> software because you wanted to improve or correct it (Linus and
> BitKeeper, for the uninitiated)))

That's a very good example, because Linus did just the right thing and
created an acceptable alternative.
 
> Just consider the source of all the 'innovations' coming down the pike,
> and ask yourself why they wrote that software. I think that's solid
> advice no matter what your opinion of corporations is.

Indeed.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

I'm firm. You're obstinate. He's a pigheaded fool.