"All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them." -Galileo Galilei
Even my worst enemies have openly admitted that what bothers them about me (or scares them) is that people trust this site and trust what I say. I can only take this as a compliment, but their motivation was sinister. They try to use trust in me as a weapon against me and if I dare celebrate an anniversary, then they try to use it against me. It's outright ridiculous.
A Web site (and Gemini capsule) does not go on and on publishing for almost 20 years unless there is a good track record, a level of trust, and a positive path ahead. For instance, everything we've ever said about "Restricted Boot" turned out to be true. Our cautionary (but not alarmist) predictions had us vindicated, repeatedly.
Last month I argued that "[i]f we mention Dr. Stallman quite a lot and defend people who think like him (regarding technology), it is about maintaining or securing the spectrum of 'permissible' views/stances in technology. The notion that users should avoid "the cloud" and take control of the programs they use oughtn't be "outlandish"."
Last week Azure went offline, not too long after AWS had gone belly-up. Many of us who cautioned against adoption of those "clouds" were left saying, "told you so!"
Societies throughout the ages always fancied attacking perceived "heretics" who just said inconvenient truths that nobody really wanted to hear (even those who knew truisms aren't treasonous).
Society needs people who challenge or at least question the status quo. As the world gets more unequal (economically, political power etc.) the disparity between facts and Public Relations will widen.
This site is educational. It uses polite language. It hopes readers can learn and spread what they have learned.
"You can't teach anybody anything," Galileo Galilei once said, "only make them realise the answers are already inside them." █