Bonum Certa Men Certa

(Don't Let's) Throw Caution to the Wind

2020 figosdev

Index



Free-falling
Chapter 8: (Don't Let's) Throw Caution to the Wind



Summary: "As it will become crucial to explain, the effect of all this dancing around truth and reality was to transform a volunteer force primed to bring freedom to users into cheap labour for an industry that exploits everyone in it -- all the way to the very top of Open Source itself."

Before we muck up our not-quite-pristine software platform with more projects, it would be wise to talk about why this is done only with some trepidation.



The projects most relevant to the next chapter are desktop environments or DEs, window managers or WMs and toolkits or libraries. The choices we make there decide what kind of crappy developer politics we end up saddled with.

"The choices we make there decide what kind of crappy developer politics we end up saddled with."Of all the laughable farces in the world, one of the greatest is that you can separate a project from "politics". As someone recently said online (maybe it was Tom) politics enter the equation the moment you're talking about Free software. This idea of any project being "apolitical" is itself a political stance. It means that certain kinds of politics (not just the party/electoral variety either, I might add) are discouraged or forbidden in a project.

One of the most famous scams to avoid the subject of "politics" is Open Source. Open Source was created to talk about / sell / exploit Free software, without mentioning either freedom or organisations that work for it. Open Source is the pseudo-apolitical, "Don't mention the war" corporate-friendly sell-out version of the Free software movement -- so much so, that its flagship organisations own co-founder Bruce Perens resigned after just a year of Open Source selling out the movement it hijacked.

Pretending to be apolitical is an industry unto to itself, and industry loves to say that political discussions are forbidden, because if they weren't you could call them on their own political atrocities.

"Pretending to be apolitical is an industry unto to itself, and industry loves to say that political discussions are forbidden, because if they weren't you could call them on their own political atrocities."Once again, this is not just about politics tangential to Free software itself. Discuss Open Source for long enough, or discuss the ethical implications of software withing an open source project for long enough, and someone will mention that political discussions are either "divisive" or a "waste of time" -- basically to "Shut up and (don't say anything unless you) code".

You will reasonably expect the next chapter to be about graphics. But this book is about user freedom, and the next chapter is about graphics from the perspective of user freedom. Some people will say "just choose your graphics layers based on their technical aspects". If you do that, you could end up with lock-in as well as the exploitation of users and developers. Maybe that's great for you, but its exactly what this book exists to discourage as much as possible.

Because so many Free software projects are actually Open Source projects, and because these projects eschew "politics" and ultimately sell out their own users (along with developers who aren't on board with the changes), it is absolutely necessary to examine the Open Source Initiative as the archetypal example of this political bait-and-switch routine.

Let's start with Bruce Perens -- I like to start with Perens, because I believe he is (at the very least, was) the most sincere person in Open Source. Perens and Eric S. Raymond founded the Open Source Initiative in 1998 -- more than a decade after the Free Software Foundation was started.

It doesn't bother me that the FSF doesn't have a monopoly on promoting Free software, nor did it bother Perens. Perens is the author of the Debian Free Software Guidelines, or DFSG. I happen to like the DFSG, even though I've lost all allegiance to Debian. Of important note is that the DFSG was the basis for the Open Source Definition (OSD) itself. That's how integral Bruce Perens is to Open Source.

"ESR still hosts the Halloween documents on his own website. These are based on memos leaked from Microsoft (verified authentic) regarding their practices towards competitors."Eric S. Raymond, I believe -- made Open Source what it is today. I don't think its accurate or fair to say he alone was responsible for the state Open Source is in. He may have made the decisions that led us to where we are now. He absolutely did not act alone.

The paradox of ESR is that he was very vocally anti-Microsoft (Microsoft is not a company, it is a Cult and empire -- so for a moment, it may help to think of ESR as anti-empire. Though whether he really is would only be a guess) to the point of publishing the "Halloween documents" on the OSI website. From there, things get weird.

ESR still hosts the Halloween documents on his own website. These are based on memos leaked from Microsoft (verified authentic) regarding their practices towards competitors. They prove that Microsoft considers Free software a competitor, that they intend to fight, thwart and if possible exploit it, and some of the overall methodology they might use to accomplish this.

"The farce of Open Source is this elaborate footwork around the idea that you can actually fight corporate hegemony without ever really talking about corporate hegemony."Raymond's comments were hardly sympathetic to them, though today Microsoft has very arguably done to OSI exactly what the Halloween Documents said they would do to Free Software and Open Source.

For years I've tried to figure out the paradox of Raymond letting Microsoft do to his own organisation exactly what he condemned them for, and I have still only come up with two possible conclusions -- one is that he lied about his true feelings originally (I very much doubt this, it is also less charitable than my other guess) and the other is that he's too proud to appreciate and admit the irony -- I think this one is probably on the money.

The farce of Open Source is this elaborate footwork around the idea that you can actually fight corporate hegemony without ever really talking about corporate hegemony. Just wave your hands about "practical development methodology" and you'll hoodwink the empire into doing the bidding of the tech world peasantry! I don't picture Raymond rubbing his hands conspiratorially and cackling so much as I imagine him thinking he could pull this off.

"In the Open Source cult, mocking the empire they originally exposed (OSI no longer hosts the Halloween documents, instead their board of directors plays host to Microsoft themselves) is precisely the problem, and being "constructive" (pretending to not have any political qualms with Microsoft's actions against users, while pretending you can reform them with a "better design methodology") is the real answer."At any rate, Open Source acts like Free Software is a "Cathedral" full of sacred cows, while Open Source is (or pretends to be) very laid back, invisible-hand-like, replacing all "wasted time" concerns about freedom with de facto freedom itself.

As it will become crucial to explain, the effect of all this dancing around truth and reality was to transform a volunteer force primed to bring freedom to users into cheap labour for an industry that exploits everyone in it -- all the way to the very top of Open Source itself. Microsoft and OSI are both corporate cults, and OSI promotes an ideal that you can somehow beat the cult if you worship just the right way -- turning it against itself.

While Open Source points and laughs at the sentimentality of Free Software and treats it as pompous, naive and even hateful, its worship of industry monopolies is revealed by the complete lack of a sense of humour about people mocking the empire itself. For all of Free Software's alleged sacred cows, nothing is more sacred or hallowed to Open Source than the empire. Throw the smallest stone you can find at one of the corporations under their protection, and the "morals" and politics of OSI will be revealed not only to peons like you and me, but even to Linus Torvalds and Eric S. Raymond.

"Unfortunately, this systemic and philosophical failure is not limited to OSI, but is likely to play out in every project (as it has with too many) that caters to Open Source over Free Software."In the Open Source cult, mocking the empire they originally exposed (OSI no longer hosts the Halloween documents, instead their board of directors plays host to Microsoft themselves) is precisely the problem, and being "constructive" (pretending to not have any political qualms with Microsoft's actions against users, while pretending you can reform them with a "better design methodology") is the real answer.

Unfortunately, this systemic and philosophical failure is not limited to OSI, but is likely to play out in every project (as it has with too many) that caters to Open Source over Free Software. One of these is a movement; the other is a conceit.

Licence: Creative Commons CC0 1.0 (public domain)

Recent Techrights' Posts

Richard Stallman is Usually Right Because He Thinks "Outside the Box"
he is able to observe society (mores and norms) as somewhat of an outsider
The Week to Come
Planning ahead
LLM Slop Has Only Been a Boon for Misinformation Online
The very same companies that were supposed to maintain quality (again, not limited to Google with PageRank) are now actively participating in generating and spreading slop
When They Tell You It's Free, Does That Mean No Charges (If So, Who's Paying and Why)?
there's "no free lunch"
 
Nonfree Software in My Bank, by Richard Stallman
Updated 8 hours ago
Links 28/07/2025: Science, Health, and Conflicts
Links for the day
Gemini Links 28/07/2025: Healthy Self-Image With Autism and a "New Life"
Links for the day
Links 28/07/2025: COVID-19 Sped up Brain Aging, "Circumvention is More Popular Than Compliance"
Links for the day
LWN Has Been Down for a Long Time, Another Casualty of LLM Bots?
Time will tell. How much time though?
Slopfarms Versus 'Linux' (and Against People Who Write Real Articles About GNU/Linux)
LLM slop in slopfarms by Brian Fagioli and Redazione RHC
Gemini Links 28/07/2025: Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray and Running pkgsrc in a FreeBSD Jail
Links for the day
Microsoft Turns News Sites Into Spamfarms
Is the site The Register MS the next IDG?
The Register MS/The Register US
On Saturday I contacted them for a comment (before issuing criticism)
Hacking revelations at Vatican Jubilee of Digital Missionaries
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 27, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 27, 2025
We're Going to Focus Less on the Molotov Cocktail-Throwing Microsofters and More on Patents
We can get back to focusing on what we wanted to focus on all along
Just Trying to Keep Web Sites Honest (Journalistic Integrity)
the latest articles in LinuxIac are real
Links 27/07/2025: Political Affairs, Data Breaches, Attacks on Freedom of the Press
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/07/2025: Hot in Japan and Terminal Escape Codes
Links for the day
Links 27/07/2025: More Microsoft Layoffs Coming, Science and Hardware News
Links for the day
Links 27/07/2025: FSF Hackathon and "Hulk Hogan Was a Very Bad Man"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/07/2025: DAW Mixer Chains and Simple Software
Links for the day
The Register MS is Inventing or Giving Air Time to New Conspiracy Theories so as to Distort the Narrative As High-Profile Agencies Fall Prey to Microsoft Holes
But the problem is holes, i.e. Microsoft making bad products; the problem is Microsoft
Most Editors at The Register Are American, Including the Editor in Chief, a Decade-Long Microsoft Stenographer (Writing Prose to Sell Microsoft)
It's not easy to tell where the site is based (we tried) because it's hiding behind ClownFlare and CrimeFlare hasn't been well lately
Pushers of systemd Rewrite History (Richard Stallman Said UNIX "Was Portable and Seemed Fairly Clean")
Unlike systemd
"New Techrights" Soon Turns 2 (A Few Days Before the FSF Turns 40)
We have a lot more to say about LLM bots
When Silence Says So Much
Garrett, a 'secure' boot pusher, will need to defend himself in the UK High Court
The Register in Trouble
There is not much that can be done at this point
Trajectory of The Register: From News Site/s Into "B2B"... and Into Microsoft Salespeople
Something isn't right at The Register
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 26, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 26, 2025
Misinformation in Social Control Media
Social control media passes around all sorts of tropes
Slopwatch: Fake Linux 'Articles' and Slopfarms With "Linux" in Their Names/Domains
throwing bots at "Linux" to make some fake articles
Links 26/07/2025: Amazon Shutdown in China, Russian Economy Slows
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/07/2025: History of Time (1988) and Gemini Games
Links for the day
Links 26/07/2025: 50 Percent Tariffs in Amazon, Dying Intel Offloads Network and Edge Group (NEX)
Links for the day
Doing My Share to Tackle Online Slop and SPAM
Trying my best to 'fix' the Web
Blaming Programming Languages for Users' and Developers' Bad Practices
That's like blaming cars for drivers who crash into things
Slopwatch: Fakes, FUD, Duplicates, and Charlatans Galore
The Web as we once know it is collapsing. Some opportunists try to replace it with low-quality slop.
The Register UK Seems to Have Become American and Management is Changing (Microsofter as Editor in Chief)
The Register 'UK' is now controlled by the Directions on Microsoft guy
Many People Still Read Techrights Because It Says the Truth, Produces Evidence, and Does Not Self-Censor
Unlike so many other sites
The Register is Desperate for Money, According to The Register
I decided to check how they're doing as a business
Microsoft Finally Finds a Use Case for Slop?
Create low-quality chaff to shift the media's attention?
Microsoft Windows Lost 400 Million Users in a Few Years, Why Does The Register Double Down on Windows With New US Editor?
days ago they hired a new US editor
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 25, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 25, 2025
For Libel Reform One Must First Bring (or Raise) Awareness to the Issues and Their Magnitude
I myself know, from personal experience
Links 26/07/2025: Rationed Meals in the US and TikTok Repels Investments (Too Toxic)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/07/2025: "Bloody Google" and New People in Geminispace
Links for the day
Response to Solderpunk (Father of Gemini Protocol) About the Gemini Community
Solderpunk responds to non-sequitur
HTML and the Web Used to be Something a Child Could Learn, "Modern" Web is a Puzzle of Frameworks, Bloat, and Worse
When the Web was more like Gemini Protocol