Interesting.
#OpenSource Initiative #OSI using a proprietary issue tracker software for its new website.
Gotta appease those sweet sweet corporate sponsors, I guess. Even when said sponsors are selling proprietary software.
@downey But GitHub is what everyone uses! It is what is easy for people! /s
@alcinnz Yes, driving a gas-powered car is easier than fighting for clean air alternatives, but you won't find Greenpeace forcing everyone to pollute in order to support their work.
@downey @alcinnz This is a digression, but you may be surprised how often I've had to drive (or ride in) gas-powered cars while engaging in climate justice activism. Low carbon transportation was generally not a priority for the people planning the actions I was involved in. This was at least as frustrating to me as FOSS projects using GitHub ;-)
Lately I've taken a hard line and I no longer intend to participate in actions where I may be forced to use cars.
💯 ... hypocrisy among so-called community "leaders" sadly remains common, often because said people are not so much driven by actually working toward change, but rather simply toward their next paycheck.
If you want to find people who actually care about the cause, you generally won't find them "at the top".
🇳🇿
@downey bingo. See also my thread on TechSoup: https://mastodon.nzoss.nz/@lightweight/109865944427207828 most organisations are mostly focused not on what they *say* they're focused on. They're mostly focused on preserving their powerbase and sphere of influence, and will alter their mission to support that (explicitly if they're honest, but often not, thus becoming a faux-parody of what they claim to be.). @skyfaller @alcinnz
@lightweight @skyfaller @alcinnz
💯 -- and that ship has sailed for OSI several years ago.
@downey yes, I haven't completely given up on them yet, as I have on the Linux Foundation, but I'm certainly very sceptical these days. I'm not an ally of 'open source' except to the extent that it's used by many when they mean Free Software, and I accept their passion if not correctness in terminology. @skyfaller @alcinnz
@lightweight @downey @skyfaller I appreciate the dev work they do! But I can't defend them as an organization or the effect that (especially their marketing team) has on their product. Or the cringey blogposts they write.
They have a vital role I want them to continue filling!
@alcinnz @lightweight @downey @skyfaller I have not given up on the OSI either.
Unfortunately I think that @downey's "call out" does harm toward a charity that actually has a governance structure that gives individual members a voice.
I do not see any actions that are designed to "appease" corporate sponsors (who do not get a voice in governance for their gifts).
@msw I think that accepting resources from corporations who are well known to actively undermine #Copyleft is unfortunately not a neutral act. It signals an implicit acceptance of those donors' actions, and an obligation from the OSI to give them the benefit of the doubt. We need to convince democratic gov'ts to fund #FOSS as digital critical infrastructure, and shun corporations and their donations entirely. A smart gov't would recognise that. Few, if any, are. @alcinnz @downey @skyfaller
@lightweight @alcinnz @downey @skyfaller if you keep pulling at that thread, FOSS projects will reject valuable contributions from developers that just happen to work for a company that many in the community find repugnant.
I think that we should accept that charities often needed to take funding from wherever they can get it, and we should expect them stand firm that their charitable charter must show no favor in return.
@msw of course, if your bio is any indication of your affiliations, you could be accused of having a vested interest in promoting that line as well. It's certainly consistent with what someone with a deeper loyalty to their employer than to their espoused principles might say. @alcinnz @downey @skyfaller
@lightweight @msw @downey @skyfaller That's uncalled for!
@alcinnz sorry, Adrian. We've got to call out those who have vested interests and remember, at some level of seniority (which I strongly suspect Matt meets or exceeds), who we choose to work for is an ethical decision, and we need to take responsibility (and hold others responsible) for that. @msw @downey @skyfaller
@lightweight I'd just encourage being careful doing so. Different people may have different tactics for achieving the same ends.
It is valid to promote the principles we hold ourselves to, but avoid inferring that others are bad people for not meeting our standards!
@alcinnz I'm not implying anything except that vested interests create a strong incentive for contra-indicated behaviour, and that has to be taken into account. I also think that there are many who find it useful to claim they're "trying to change' a known bad actor 'from the inside' while drawing a massive salary paid for by proprietary software and user exploitation. 1/2 @msw @downey @skyfaller
@alcinnz Based on my 30 years of keen observation, those who succumb to that temptation are substantially more likely to change their definition of 'good' to include themselves and their employer than they are to shift their employer's culture by one iota. 2/2
@msw @downey @skyfaller
@lightweight @alcinnz @downey @skyfaller I generally try to be a humble person, but I am quite confident that my being at Amazon (along with my colleagues who have been FOSS advocates for decades and accepted offers to join) has been a positive influence in how others at Amazon think and act regarding FOSS matters.
Now, I won't be able to change Amazon and the rest of the industry to return to the "DRM free MP3" days of old. But there are other things I can try to do.
@msw @lightweight @alcinnz @downey @skyfaller My experience in large corporations is that while you can advocate within you can only change by adding value to their bottom line, and adding value to the bottom line can often lead to unintended corruption. I've always kept my name separate from the corporation I work for in all #FOSS contributions.
