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Balkanization of Open Source Software

In reaction to the stunning amount of OSS projects having elements that are attempting to enforce this or that political leaning upon its members — there is an understandable desire to react in kind. And I’m hoping this trend won’t continue.

The genesis of this post is a sort of “well, we will protest on your behalf” response to my posit that I’m quite happy to use software freely given out from the labor of those who CAN’T STAND my beliefs, political opinions, etc. How terrible of them! And it is terrible, no doubt. But my response is to just continue using the software…because I like and benefit from the software. And frankly, I choose to see it as extra joy that someone who REALLY wouldn’t like me benefitting from their hard work, is nonetheless, working for free for my benefit.

But shouldn’t we form purity lists to support the software development from those with our own political or social bent? Sure - if you want to. But for me? I’m going to let the software itself determine whether I use it or not. Maybe someone I disagree with - happens to write a lot better code than the person sitting next to my in the church pew on Sunday.

Now I realize that OSS is already balkanized - so what’s wrong with doubling the balkanization for the good cause of telling someone else their beliefs are wrong-er than my own? Take the mess we have, and double it with forks so that “folks who like pokemon” are all cooperating and the “folks who like black and white television” are cooperating. Right?!

No. I mean, again, “do your thing” — but for me — that’s not how I choose to respond. I’m not going to act like those who hate me by cutting my own nose off to spite my face in protest and counter virtue signaling. I think the loser will be quality software - and that’s bad for Pokemon and Leave It To Beaver enthusiasts.

Those of you with “correct-think” are not protesting on my behalf just because we might vote for the same people. You aren’t accomplishing anything in spite of me “lack of moral courage” to boycott those who boycott me. You are doing you, and that’s ok.

As for me - I’m choosing tolerance of the intolerant. Free speech is easy when you like what someone is saying. The virtue in Free Speech is only in play when you allow those you disagree with to have their say. Likewise, it’s easy to be tolerant of those who at least tolerate you. But the challenge is to live with tolerance in the face of those who don’t give two bits about tolerating you.

This from the perspective of the software user. I might well have to move on from a project that would “purge me” for “wrong-think”. But as for which software I will use, it will be whatever is the quality software no matter who made it. “But that’s why my fork does, it just gets us back to software without politics”. It’s a wonderful pov, it matches my own. But - it doesn’t usurp the “if it’s good software, I’ll use it without regard to who made it”.

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Bryan Lunduke@Lunduke
2 hours ago
Google May be Broken Up as a Result of Lost Lawsuit

Google has been ruled to be a monopoly, with multiple remedies being proposed... including breaking Google up into smaller companies. That's right. Some time in 2025, Android and ChromeOS may be in completely different companies than Google's AI and Search businesses.

The filing:
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.223205/gov.uscourts.dcd.223205.1052.0_1.pdf

00:21:47
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Bryan Lunduke@Lunduke
2 hours ago
Top Level Domain .io Will Die in 5 Years

The "Indian Ocean" islands have been given up by the UIK. For GitHub.io, Itcho.io (and many others with .io domains), the clock is ticking to find a new domain name.

00:11:13
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Bryan Lunduke@Lunduke
October 08, 2024
Best Alternatives to Woke Software

There's so much Woke Software out there. Browsers like Mozilla Firefox & Google Chrome. Operating Systems from Red Hat, SUSE, & Microsoft. And so many others. What are some good -- Non-Woke -- alternatives?

Because we should all be able to use software that doesn't hate us for being normal.

00:40:31
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Bryan Lunduke@Lunduke
November 22, 2023
The futility of Ad-Blockers

Ads are filling the entirety of the Web -- websites, podcasts, YouTube videos, etc. -- at an increasing rate. Prices for those ad placements are plummeting. Consumers are desperate to use ad-blockers to make the web palatable. Google (and others) are desperate to break and block ad-blockers. All of which results in... more ads and lower pay for creators.

It's a fascinatingly annoying cycle. And there's only one viable way out of it.

Looking for the Podcast RSS feed or other links? Check here:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4619051/lunduke-journal-link-central-tm

Give the gift of The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4898317/give-the-gift-of-the-lunduke-journal

The futility of Ad-Blockers
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Bryan Lunduke@Lunduke
November 21, 2023
openSUSE says "No Lunduke allowed!"

Those in power with openSUSE make it clear they will not allow me anywhere near anything related to the openSUSE project. Ever. For any reason.

Well, that settles that, then! Guess I won't be contributing to openSUSE! 🤣

Looking for the Podcast RSS feed or other links?
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4619051/lunduke-journal-link-central-tm

Give the gift of The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4898317/give-the-gift-of-the-lunduke-journal

openSUSE says "No Lunduke allowed!"
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Bryan Lunduke@Lunduke
September 13, 2023
"Andreas Kling creator of Serenity OS & Ladybird Web Browser" - Lunduke’s Big Tech Show - September 13th, 2023 - Ep 044

This episode is free for all to enjoy and share.

Be sure to subscribe here at Lunduke.Locals.com to get all shows & articles (including interviews with other amazing nerds).

"Andreas Kling creator of Serenity OS & Ladybird Web Browser" - Lunduke’s Big Tech Show - September 13th, 2023 - Ep 044
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Theropod101@Theropod101
2 hours ago

I was just on Ebay, and discovered you can buy entire TV show runs on DVD or Blueray for less than streaming services charge.

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Greg Gauthier@Greg_Gauthier
7 hours ago

Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I'll have to write something that prevents it from actually doing anything. Fortunately, I don't have any personal stuff on the windows laptop. It's strictly for contracting.

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trigglux@trigglux
5 hours ago

The electricity company in my country has decided it will herd everyone into electronic payments. They're outright going to remove the counters where you could pay with cash (or card). As you can imagine, this upsets me. It's bad enough that NSA and whatever the Russian version of it is spy on my browsing, they have no need to know how much I spend on electricity. Not to mention all the other nasties that might have burrowed into my system through bugs in the printer drivers. xD Unfortunately, my options here are limited, but I do plan on going and paying in cash literally for as long as I can, and I also sent them a protest email pointing out their move harms national security. Yes, I literally quoted "national security" as the reason to turn back the decision. What are the odds they'll reconsider? xD BTW, I still have the option of paying at the post office with cash (our post offices are nice like that), and that's my solution until they complicate that as well.

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Bryan Lunduke@Lunduke
23 hours ago
3 Days Left — Lifetime Subscriptions ($200 via Locals or Bitcoin) go away forever

Apologies if you don’t need this reminder — if you already have a Lifetime Subscriptions or want to stick to the Monthly/Yearly option — but I want to be 100% sure everyone knows this happening. Because this deadline is firm and I can’t do any exceptions.

  • Lifetime Lunduke Journal Subscriptions are only available until Friday, October 11th, 2024.  That's 3 days from now.

  • Lifetime Subscriptions are discounted to $200 for these last few days.  Just for kicks.

  • Friday is also the last day any subscription can be obtained via Bitcoin.

You can find all of the details in this article (or this video) -- including the reasons why no new Lifetime Subscriptions will be offered after next Friday, and details on the new Lunduke Journal Affiliate Program.

If you have picked up a Lifetime Sub in the last couple days, you will be receiving an email shortly (if you haven't already) with confirmation.

How To Get a Lifetime Subscription

All the benefits of a Standard Monthly subscription... but pay once and never need to pay again.  $200.

  • Go to Lunduke.Locals.com/support.

  • Select "Give Once".

  • Enter "200" into the amount field.

  • After checking out, Lunduke will toss you an email once your account is set to full lifetime status.

How To Get a Lifetime Subscription (with Bitcoin)

You can also obtain a Lifetime Subscription via Bitcoin.

  • Make sure you have a Lunduke.Locals.com account (a free account works just fine).

  • Send $200 worth of Bitcoin (or more) to the following address:

bc1qyjakve8fywm8pz2v99v57yhjj0vzr2vjze6fcq

  • Email "[email protected]" with the following information: What time you made the transaction, how much was sent (in Bitcoin), and the email address you use (or plan to use) on Locals.com.

Here's a handy-dandy QR code you can scan that also has a Bitcoin Wallet Address for The Lunduke Journal:

102127_2uuarwwiqcds5s2.jpeg
 
 
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Bryan Lunduke@Lunduke
October 07, 2024
Reminder: Lifetime Subs only $200 until Friday -- then gone forever
  • Lifetime Lunduke Journal Subscriptions are only available until Friday, October 11th, 2024.  That's 4 days from now.

  • Lifetime Subscriptions are discounted to $200 for these last few days.  Just for kicks.

 

I'm sending out another reminder on this -- apologies to those of you who don't need this reminder, but I don't want anyone to be left out or surprised.  Seriously.  Friday is the last day for new Lifetime Subscriptions.  Poof.  No more after that.

You can find all of the details in this article (or this video) -- including the reasons why no new Lifetime Subscriptions will be offered after next Friday, and details on the new Lunduke Journal Affiliate Program.

If you have picked up a Lifetime Sub in the last couple days, you will be receiving an email shortly (if you haven't already) with confirmation.

How To Get a Lifetime Subscription

All the benefits of a Standard Monthly subscription... but pay once and never need to pay again.  $200.

  • Go to Lunduke.Locals.com/support.

  • Select "Give Once".

  • Enter "200" into the amount field.

  • After checking out, Lunduke will toss you an email once your account is set to full lifetime status.

How To Get a Lifetime Subscription (with Bitcoin)

You can also obtain a Lifetime Subscription via Bitcoin.

  • Make sure you have a Lunduke.Locals.com account (a free account works just fine).

  • Send $200 worth of Bitcoin (or more) to the following address:

bc1qyjakve8fywm8pz2v99v57yhjj0vzr2vjze6fcq

  • Email "[email protected]" with the following information: What time you made the transaction, how much was sent (in Bitcoin), and the email address you use (or plan to use) on Locals.com.

Here's a handy-dandy QR code you can scan that also has a Bitcoin Wallet Address for The Lunduke Journal:

102127_2uuarwwiqcds5s2.jpeg
 
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Bryan Lunduke@Lunduke
October 06, 2024
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Last week at The Lunduke Journal (Sep 29 - Oct 5, 2024)
Godot's "Cleansing" of Non-Woke! DOOM on a Quantum Computer! A Good Code of Conduct!

Another week, another software organization goes nuts and darn near destroys itself by attacking its own users and developers.  This time, its the Godot game engine enacting a mass "cleansing" of people based on political ideas.

Bonkers.  100% bonkers.

Luckily we also had some good news this week!  The Ladybird Browser project adopts a surprisingly reasonable Code of Conduct (I know, right?), and some mad scientist managed to get a DOOM re-implementation running on a theoretical Quantum Computer.

Which.  Is just... weird.  But awesome.

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