Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Future of Techrights

Future
Just bear with us...



Summary: Futures are difficult to predict, but our general vision for the years ahead revolves around more community involvement and less (none or decreased) reliance on third parties, especially monopolistic corporations, mostly because they oppress the population via the network and via electronic devices

The title isn't clickbait (I could think of much more click-worthy titles), it's just a descriptive explanation, a concise one, of the subject to be tackled here.



Lately we've been having internal (albeit public, fully transparent, to be found in IRC logs) discussion about the future. We're been observing the gradually-deteriorating state of the World Wide Web (just "Web" for short) and collapse of the media (as in journalism) -- a subject we tackled hours ago. On Monday we had a complete breakdown of storage (meltdown of the whole OS) in the self-hosted (from home) Gemini capsule, IPFS and other essential services, but we recovered fully within less than a day owing to a good backup regime and Git (all the bits and pieces are there, version-controlled too), leaving us with both a hardware upgrade (twice as much storage) and an OS upgrade (Bullseye). We'll improve our disaster recovery and contingencies strategy as a result of Monday's incident, probably using a few "hot spares" and quasi-redundancy.

"To quell or calm down concerned readers (Mogz is among them), we are not leaving the Web!"Looking ahead at our crystal ball, we envision a move away from WordPress some time over the horizon. The trajectory of the project isn't bad for some users, but we're not among those users. I myself played a big role in the project in its earlier days (around 2004-2008), I'm among the first dozen users in WordPress.com (I was a beta tester), and I care for WordPress deeply. In fact, I maintain nearly a dozen WordPress sites. I'm not a big fan of more recent versions of WordPress, but that's a matter of personal preferences if not an eccentric opinion. The direction the Web has taken puts us off more and more over time; we want to seek alternatives, even if they're just optional. To quell or calm down concerned readers (Mogz is among them), we are not leaving the Web! We're not leaving! It'll be fully supported probably for decades to come (if we last decades more... or even a whole decade longer; decades is a huge amount of time in the context of technology).

"Last year we moved to Gemini, we took our IRC network 'in-house', and during the pandemic's first year we also added bulletins, then IPFS and a bunch of other things."In terms of our focus, we're trying to produce only accurate and properly fact-checked material, both in short and long form (even memes are checked carefully for accuracy). We strive for quality, not quantity, and we try to produce original material of interest to the general population. We focus on issues we know well enough and we meticulously check blog posts for typos, too (unlike IRC; IRC is super-informal and we don't do social control media, not in our capacity as a site anyway).

Last year we moved to Gemini, we took our IRC network 'in-house', and during the pandemic's first year we also added bulletins, then IPFS and a bunch of other things. The site is no longer limited to just a Web site. It's a lot bigger than that. The code we have in Git is a testament to that (we took that repository public only months ago).

"Software freedom remains our foremost priority."We still have a lot to say and to show regarding GitHub/Microsoft, the EPO, and the FSF, which will soon announce its new chief (not Board). We heard speculations that it'll be Greg Farough, but it's just hearsay and we have no way to prove it. Richard Stallman suggested that a decision had been made already.

Software freedom remains our foremost priority. The fight against software patents is closely connected to that priority and we study angles that others barely touch, e.g. the devolution of cars. One of the best way to help us is to join us in IRC; not some "like" in social control media or even money. Our operating costs are as minimal as can be, but the scarcity is human effort. We want to get more people involved because the more of us work together, the greater the output (and impact) will be.

So, in short, the future of Techrights will hopefully revolve around expansion in terms of the number of people involved.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Google 'Search' is Fast Becoming No Better Than Social Control Media Infested With Bots
Google emerged almost 30 years ago as a company looking to organise the Web and direct people towards informative pages. That Google is dead.
Before the OSI Was Bribed and Hijacked by Microsoft via GitHub and Compromised Management...
The OSI isn't even remotely "woke"
The OSI Has Been Silent for Over 3 Weeks, It Has a Severe Trust Issue After Promoting Microsoft and Proprietary GitHub
OSI took a lot of money from Microsoft to become a Microsoft lobbyist
Bribery is OK If You Work for Microsoft (No Punishment Expected)
It's very troubling and a symptom of a broken society/system when particular laws or rules are applied and enforced against some people but not against others
Someone Should Remind Microsoft Lunduke That Microsoft Hires Many Sexual Criminals and Pedophiles as Well
Microsoft Lunduke on an "expedition" to find one or more perverts, then generalise to everyone in the "community"
Cash Machines (ATMs) Make Mistakes and They're Proprietary Software
Correcting mistakes is a colossal challenge
 
Some People See What Others See... But Only 40 Years Later
When people deviate from "the norm" they typically get ridiculed and dismissed as "crazy"
Links 30/07/2025: Tea Class Action and Google Killing the Web With Slop
Links for the day
Last Month Our IRC Community Turned 17
Funnily enough we never missed a single day when it comes to logging
"The Unix Kernel"
Linux was inspired by MINIX
The Register Relays Microsoft Marketing, Dubs That Marketing "Research"
Hours ago they did a "Microsoft sez" piece
Dealing With Sociopaths, Liars, and Cranks
A dysfunctional society such as this would never develop
Not Owning Mobile Phones
It's not about resistance; it's common sense
PCLinuxOS Had Functional Backups Before the House Fire, the Site Will be Restored in New Webhost
This is the direction we want for GNU/Linux, not some IBM sales strategy
Gemini Links 30/07/2025: Two Sides of Me and "Hooked on Cosmic Voyage"
Links for the day
Microsoft Will Continue Resorting to Crimes in Order to Keep GNU/Linux Usage Down
It is a real problem and we'll revisit it later this week
GAFAM 'Revolving Doors' at The Register and a "Bribe Price List"
"an analyst at Microsoft"
Microsoft Rapidly Shrinking (No, It's Not About Efficiency, It's About Unbearable Debt)
We'll soon see how much debt grew in the past quarter
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 29, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, July 29, 2025
Corruption is the Standard Operating Procedure at the European Patent Office (EPO)
The EPO is a dictatorship that stains Europe
Local Staff Committee Munich (LSCMN) at the European Patent Office (EPO) Requests an Urgent Meeting to Avoid Abolishing the Office
This is dictatorship led by the most corrupt
Slopwatch: Fake 'Linux' 'Articles' and Spamfarms/Slopfarms
at least 5 fake articles in one day
Gemini Links 29/07/2025: Wayland Unfit for Use and LLM Slop Faking One's Language Skills With Robot Communications
Links for the day
Nailing the "Hey Hi" (AI) Hype Bubble
So-called "hey hi" as they define it now is all about large companies or regimes remotely controlling the processes running on your machine and even your very own behaviour on your machine, which is in effect no longer your machine but some remotely controlled apparatus
"Four decades; Four freedoms; For all users" Now as a T-shirt
That's shown along the sidebar
Links 29/07/2025: Bad Climate and "Fair Software Licensing" Blasts Microsoft
Links for the day
Links 29/07/2025: Data Brokers Gone Wrong/Rogue and "Copyright Thicket"
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Linuxconfig.org, Linuxsecurity.com, Fagioli, The Register
Today's "Slopwatch" isn't the first article about LLM slop
We Cover Topics Other Sites Are Too Afraid to Cover (Even When They Know the Facts)
It's not that they doubt the truth, they just realise there may be consequences for talking about it
They Try to Tell Us the Free Software Foundation Inc is Dying, But Its Revenue Doubled Since the Dot-Com Bubble Burst
Being in "Activism" is never easy; but it does positive things for society
Yes, Microsoft is the Problem
"I am no MS shill."
It's About the Cost of Workers, Not the Fictional Skills Shortage (That Does Not Exist, the Media Spreads False and Sometimes Self-Fulfilling Narratives)
This issue isn't limited to computing, some dub it "globalism"
Another Failed Use Case for Chatbots (LLM): Legal Advice and Analysis
They're just some self-discrediting toy that costs way too much to operate
Links 29/07/2025: More Pushbacks Against Slop and More Praises of Tom Lehrer
Links for the day
Gemini Links 29/07/2025: Purple Yarrow and Understanding Op Amps
Links for the day
This Monday WebProNews Absolutely Flooded the Web With Fake (LLM Slop) 'Articles' About "Linux", Google News Promoted Them as Legitimate
All of the following are fake articles attributed to pseudonyms or authors that don't exist; the images are also slop. Why does Google promote these?
Linuxiac is Not a Slopfarm, But at Least Some of Its Articles Are Machine-Generated Fakes
what we said about it was correct
Expect More Microsoft Layoffs
"Are more job cuts coming?"
Microsoft Behaving Like It's Running Out of Money to Pay Salaries
Does that seem like the behaviour expected from a company which claims it is "worth" trillions?
LWN Downtime Due to Linode, Not LLM Bots
"I’ve received an email letting me know that there is a potential for data loss."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 28, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 28, 2025
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
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
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