Hans-Christoph Steiner @eighthave@librem.one

I really wonder what was behind the decision by #Google to take the #Android open source developer reference, that anyone could build themselves, and make it #proprietary and only available online. Given all the other stuff that Google does, it is hard to see it as anything but a play for forced tracking of developers in combination with solidifying monopoly control over Android.

@ralph yes, markets are a way of organizing coordination. There are other ways to do that also. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. The problem lies with the belief that markets are somehow the perfect way of organizing coordination, better than the others in all ways. This is what I'm talking about when referencing the Austrian school.

It used to be pretty easy to build a local copy of the #Android developer docs. It was quite nice because it was super fast to navigate. I even made a #Debian package for the offline version. #Google broke that back in Android 6.0 or so.

@ralph Yeah, markets are a tool, not a way of life or a moral code. The #Austrian economists got that part really wrong, believing that murderous dictators who deregulate are bringing #Freedom.

Why on earth does https://developer.android.com block #Tor connections now? It does seem like #Google is aiming to collect ever more data on #Android developers, maybe this is one thing they're doing to ensure they get decent IP data there.

@cobratbq yeah, that's a great description.

In case you think housing subsidies don't work, consider that everyone in America who has a mortgage is living in subsidized housing because mortgages to buy houses are given huge deductions https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/23/magazine/vienna-social-housing.html

#LLM #chatbot tricks like #ChatGPT are looking ever more like #bitcoin and other #cryptocurrencies : they are mostly good for cheating, faking, and creating #disinfo.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/27/nyregion/avianca-airline-lawsuit-chatgpt.html

How does one deal with someone like L. Frank Baum, the author of the Wizard of Oz? On one hand, he was an outspoken #feminist and #suffragist, on the other hand, he explicitly advocated for the #genocide of the native Americans.

@gwagner That article does have a good outline of the issues, which The Economist is good at. It also dismisses the ideas with an oversimplified, sweeping generalization. The Economist is also good at that. "It turns out voters do not much like stagnation; the newish premier, Giorgia Meloni, rails against “Greta Thunberg’s ideology” killing jobs." People don't like struggling or not having jobs. Many growth-centered economies have delivered this state, that can't be pinned on de-growth.

@Billie Very nice to see this effort! #Android rebuilds lives again! Has anyone tested to see if they are #reproducible?

@ntnsndr @cwebber@octodon.social @fossandcrafts@octodon.social @SylvieLorxu @mlemweb@octodon.social @efoundation I don't know much about how their app works, but I can tell you that #FDroid takes privacy, security, and transparency very seriously, for example https://f-droid.org/docs/Security_Model

@ntnsndr @cwebber@octodon.social @fossandcrafts@octodon.social @SylvieLorxu @mlemweb@octodon.social @efoundation /e/ foundation prioritizes ease of use over #FreeSoftware, they are more about being #Google-free. If you want human-reviewed Free Software, then stick with f-droid.org as your only app source. The official #FDroid client provides free software, as easy as possible.

I'm often surprised to hear that many people believe that #OpenSource was this new radical idea in software development that came about in the 80s. That is actually backwards. Open Source was the default way software was developed before the 80s, and #proprietary development changed that. The #FreeSoftware movement was a direct response to software going #proprietary. It put #UserFreedom front and center as the reason why #software should be free and open.