Notices by Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz@social.mikegerwitz.com), page 9
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Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz@social.mikegerwitz.com)'s status on Sunday, 03-Jun-2018 21:53:36 EDT 
Mike Gerwitz
lol...
I don't really have many words. This post will make zero sense in a historical context. -
Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz@social.mikegerwitz.com)'s status on Wednesday, 30-May-2018 01:35:40 EDT
Mike Gerwitz
@ng0 Sorry, that was my fault. The list comes from releases on the GNU FTP server. I'll add an exception to gnurl to the script to ensure that it is stripped from future spotlights. With regards to the URL---it was supposed to redirect to gnunet; that's a bug in my script.
I took this over from Brandon Invergo a few months ago and I'm still getting everything properly organized. -
Christine Lemmer-Webber (cwebber@octodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 16-May-2018 16:56:01 EDT 
Christine Lemmer-Webber
Ah, I've long wanted to see the Jargon file without seeing ESR's "additions", and here it is: http://www.dourish.com/goodies/jargon.html
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Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz@social.mikegerwitz.com)'s status on Saturday, 12-May-2018 22:29:27 EDT
Mike Gerwitz
@tealturtle
> Android Studio is considered non-free?
Yes, see:
https://developer.android.com/studio/terms -
Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz@social.mikegerwitz.com)'s status on Friday, 11-May-2018 23:08:58 EDT
Mike Gerwitz
@phil https://developer.android.com/studio/terms -
Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz@social.mikegerwitz.com)'s status on Friday, 11-May-2018 22:40:05 EDT
Mike Gerwitz
The @fsf is hiring for a contract position for the development of #GNU #LibreJS:
https://www.fsf.org/news/contract-opportunity-javascript-developer-for-gnu-librejs
Now this is interesting. I look forward to seeing the results. Please apply if interested! -
Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz@social.mikegerwitz.com)'s status on Friday, 11-May-2018 13:28:17 EDT
Mike Gerwitz
@bob @minitrope Yes it's a container system that I think works across many GNU/Linux distributions. I haven't researched it at all, but as long as it is free software, I have no problem with its existence; they're just using it for bad things. :) -
Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz@social.mikegerwitz.com)'s status on Friday, 11-May-2018 13:26:52 EDT
Mike Gerwitz
@sixhohsix
> Ubuntu developers have given back to the free software world in code and design. Ubuntu has brought Linux to an increasing number of users. And it puts its users first instead of politics.
If we generalize this argument, it's a common one: Open source expanded the reach of free software, thereby providing freedom more broadly to users, so is that a good thing?
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html
It is good that more are using free software, but it's a shallow "win": what good is freedom if it isn't realized? What are the benefits of free software to users who don't even realize that those freedoms exist? It degrades itself to a technical benefit---a development model; which is precisely what open source is.
It's good that Canonical has given back much to the free software community, but it's important to consider the issues separately: their contributions to free software, and their efforts to undermine it. One is good and should be praised. The other is bad and should be strongly condemned.
> Which includes things that free software has failed to provide. Like Minecraft [...]
I just want to mention Minetest (and derivatives)---I've made a number of posts about how I use it with my children, and how much fun they have with it. Also see:
http://www.ocsmag.com/2016/04/04/mining-for-education/ -
Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz@social.mikegerwitz.com)'s status on Friday, 11-May-2018 13:19:17 EDT
Mike Gerwitz
@quad @z428 @robots I am strongly in favor of not restricting users' ability to install proprietary software---doing so would be restricting their freedom to do their computing as they please, and would be unethical from the perspective of software freedom.
But that's different from advertising proprietary software directly. So if a user wants to use their favorite proprietary programs on Ubuntu, and the author/company creating that proprietary program offer a Debian package or Snap or something and host it themselves, I have no problem with that (other than the fact that it's proprietary).
But when Ubuntu hosts and advertises those programs, they're telling users to use it.
I understand what Ubuntu is doing any why Canonical is doing it. It makes sense for them to do what they are doing based on their project goals. But I'm speaking as a free software activist---engaging in activism against their behavior. I recognize that it is behavior that others do desire, even if they are aware of free software. But I also believe that Canonical can do a much better job exposing users to free software and its philosophy while still doing what they are doing today. Not ideal, but it would be something. -
Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz@social.mikegerwitz.com)'s status on Friday, 11-May-2018 13:12:23 EDT
Mike Gerwitz
@bob I suspect that was a motivation, but I haven't followed its development at iall, so I couldn't say whether or not that is actually the case.
(Btw I seem to not be receiving your messages anymore...I must be following an old account...!) -
Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz@social.mikegerwitz.com)'s status on Friday, 11-May-2018 02:45:22 EDT
Mike Gerwitz
@micahflee There is also ssss, which is a command line implementation. Not a GUI, but easy to use and still suitable for many people. It's available in many GNU/Linux distros.
My initial concern with Sunder is that it has a huge number of dependencies, along with a complex runtime, which drastically increases the attack surface and the possibility of things going wrong. It also makes it very difficult to audit the system as a whole.
Thanks for sharing, though; I'll submit comments as requested. -
Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz@social.mikegerwitz.com)'s status on Friday, 11-May-2018 02:30:24 EDT
Mike Gerwitz
@zaitcev Well, I don't know if your opinion is negative of Ubuntu or not; "rock-bottom" is my choice of term there, not yours, of course. -
Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz@social.mikegerwitz.com)'s status on Friday, 11-May-2018 02:28:01 EDT
Mike Gerwitz
@zaitcev You seem to be implying that the distro has already hit rock-bottom and that it's not possible for things to get worse. I disagree---it _is_ getting worse, and the Snapcraft recommendations presented in that screenshot are an example of that. My state of disappointment isn't binary. -
Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz@social.mikegerwitz.com)'s status on Friday, 11-May-2018 02:22:41 EDT
Mike Gerwitz
@valerauko A "choice" means that the user is given an option between two or more things. But that is not what is presented. What is presented is a list of indistinguishable programs unless users choose to look at the license field, which means nothing to most of them to begin with. A choice would mean that Ubuntu would make a clear effort to mark non-free software as such (or vice versa), along with an explanation to educate users as to what that means.
Looking at that screenshot, and looking at snapcraft.io, I see none of that. (The screenshot seems to reflect the recommendations on Snapcraft.) In fact, such little effort is made that the license fields aren't even links.
We disagree on what "harmful" means as well. -
Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz@social.mikegerwitz.com)'s status on Thursday, 10-May-2018 22:09:39 EDT
Mike Gerwitz
@valerauko
> proprietary software exists and there's a lot of it
Well, that's the more fundamental problem, and is why I'm a free software activist. ;)
But this is disappointing because of Ubuntu's roots. It became popular back in the day because it was a fairly well-polished Debian GNU/Linux derivative. It was accessible.
But now it's a distribution that is _harmful_ to the free software community. Recommending Ubuntu to a user is blatantly recommending proprietary software. And with each release, it gets worse. (Though there are fully free derivatives, like Trisquel.)
Debian itself hasn't been endorsed by the FSF because it has a non-free package repository (https://www.gnu.org/distros/common-distros.html). Ubuntu has taken that a step further with their snap container repository, which appears to have no license restrictions. -
Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz@social.mikegerwitz.com)'s status on Thursday, 10-May-2018 20:54:29 EDT
Mike Gerwitz
https://social.mikegerwitz.com/url/37790
https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/bb20.jpg
This is very disappointing to see. The screenshot shows "You're ready to go!", followed by "You can use 'Software' to install apps like these:". The apps they list, in left-right top-down order, are: VLC (free), Skype (non-free), Spotify (non-free), Slack (non-free), Discord (non-free), Corebird (free), Mailspring (free), GIMP (free), Minecraft (non-free), Android Studio (non-free), Ora (non-free), Notepad-Plus-Plus (free), Tusk (free), Brave (free), and IDEA Community (free).
That is 8 free and _7 non-free_. Also in the screenshot on the left is an Amazon icon.
We've known #Ubuntu to do these things for a while now, but I grow increasingly disappointed with each release. Ubuntu also encourages the use of proprietary software through "snaps", and advertises non-free software by default through their package repositories unless you explicitly check a box (at least in previous version) during installation to use only free repositories. -
Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz@social.mikegerwitz.com)'s status on Wednesday, 09-May-2018 23:10:14 EDT
Mike Gerwitz
Mail from multiple organizations (FSF, EFF, Mozilla) that Senator Markey is forcing a vote on net neutrality under the Congressional Review Act. This has the potential to overrule by simple majority vote the FCC chairmain Ajit Pai's deeply unpopular reversal of the Open Internet Order.
There are 50 votes in the Senate as of this moment. This is a lightly bipartisan effort. If it passes, it goes to the House.
https://social.mikegerwitz.com/url/37777
https://checkyourreps.org/scores -
Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz@social.mikegerwitz.com)'s status on Wednesday, 09-May-2018 22:53:20 EDT
Mike Gerwitz
HN discussions reminding me to give Emacs' eshell some more research. I love Bash and POSIX shell (most of my small personal programs are shell scripts, because it suits my needs well), but that doesn't mean that other overlapping tools aren't useful in different circumstances. I do use both Emacs and Vim, in different circumstances. ;) -
Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz@social.mikegerwitz.com)'s status on Wednesday, 09-May-2018 02:44:25 EDT
Mike Gerwitz
@dthompson I eat lunch in the car each day, even in winter, to allow me to unwind. When we have some sort of team lunch (e.g. for birthdays or new-hires), I still go out there afterward for a little bit.
When I see others on my team eating together at lunch, I know I'm missing certain conversations that allow the team to bond on a more personal level. Which is important to me, especially in a team lead role. But that bonding should also be happening throughout the day---we have a casual environment with strong interaction. Eating together can be effective, but forcing that interaction can be detrimental. And if eating together is essential for the team to develop, the there's dysfunction elsewhere that needs to be addressed.
I need to disassociate for a little bit each day.
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