News
join-lemmy.org
  • MrFlamey@lemmy.worldEnglish
    346·
    2 years ago

    It’s definitely good to have people like you investigating the backgrounds of key developers, as there might be ulterior motives behind them developing open platforms that compete with established Western companies outside of loving the free web and open source. Thank you!

    However, I wonder how many opinions we disagree with would be unearthed by doing this kind of research on every core developer of Chrome, Windows, MacOS, Google or whatever. I think you would find a lot if you get people to air their honest opinions. In today’s climate, if these people were open about certain opinions they might hold (not saying they do, but statistically it’s likely some do) they would just be fired, so it’s easy for large corporations to shake damage to their reputation from having certain staff members. For OSS it is a bit harder, since although developers can be pushed out, and software can be forked, it’s all open and it’s harder to understate the contribution to the source code etc. that such a person could have contributed.

    It does kind of suck when you hear that developers working on software you like have wildly different worldviews to your own, but sometimes you have to put things in perspective. Having said that, if this guy is the only developer I might feel less than happy about using Lemmy instead of Reddit.

    • Otakeb@lemmy.worldEnglish
      13·
      2 years ago

      Personally, I’d rather my open source, decentralized software be developed by a nearly fanatical communist than a slimy entrepreneur/capitalist. Either could try to pull the rug out from under you, but at least one is internally consistent until then…

      • xzite@lemmy.worldEnglish
        87·
        2 years ago

        but at least one is internally consistent until then…

        Having to do the mental gymnastics required to make China not commit genocide does not suggest internal consistency…

      • WolfBearSheep67@lemmy.worldEnglish
        57·
        2 years ago

        I’d rather have open source, decentralized software be developed by none of those groups/slimy individual. Doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive.

        • epicspongee [they/them or he/him]@midwest.socialEnglish
          71·
          2 years ago

          I mean you’re more than free to start contributing to Lemmy and / or offer to be on the core team. You can fork it and start your own version of it not owned by them. The nice thing about having a communist (or at least an anticapitalist) developing it instead of a capitalist is that you have the freedom to do that. You cannot do that with Twitter, or with Reddit, or with Facebook, or with Instagram.

          Capitalists will not voluntarily do that because it is unprofitable to them. Companies that do end up floundering or dead.

          Idk to me there’s a very real difference between the two and I’d rather have a tankie developing a platform than someone like Elon Musk making it go to shit.