Microsoft is celebrating its 50-year anniversary. Here you’ll find resources and information for media, including a press pack, timeline of Microsoft's history and more.
I do wish them dead, we need fewer proprietary companies which help cops and steals code for their LLM bullshit. Also less FUD and smears against FOSS, they are not FOSS’ friend and the sooner FOSS developers realise this and move to codeberg or their own forgejo instances the better.
Aside from the proprietary bit, there’s also an argument over companies existing for so long also just perpetuating wealth inequality since the same families hoard the wealth that the company generates. I wish I could remember where I saw the argument (I feel like it was probably an article associated with NPR), I found the arguments against allowing companies to reach 100 years old quite compelling.
In a perfect world that makes everyone happy there’s 5 Apples, 5 Microsofts, 10 open source projects funded by governments and 20 independent open source alternatives, all working same interoperable standards. I wish for a perfect world.
Because some like proprietary and why would you make their lives harder? As long as it’s interoperable and a part of a broader healthy ecosystem there’s place for every approach.
Like, I wouldn’t mind if someone made a proprietary Activity Pub Reddit alternative. They could compete on some UI features, support, moderation etc. The more the merrier and we could all still talk.
Well, the only reason I can see them liking proprietary is because that money still exists and that money allows propietary companies (and open source to be fair) to do more. If money didn’t exist there would be no need for proprietary companies nor a need to ‘protect’ their ‘property’ and in my perfect world money doesn’t exist, therefore no need for proprietary code/products.
I can be called a commie and won’t flinch at it but currency is useful, you just don’t need to fetishise it. People should be rewarded for their work as long as it’s not some form of rentierism. How to organise it isn’t that relevant because there are many ways to achieve it.
I don’t think money or any form of it is the only way to reward people for their work (not that all people need a reward in that sense). I think that is it is might be because of this current system showing that the only way to be rewarded is through monetary compensation.
Also, I’m going to quibble here that the only reason why a lot of jobs currently done require a ‘reward’ is because of the conditions under which people labour, remove those conditions and there will be less of a need for incentives to keep people doing things they either don’t like (because they won’t do them and others that do like them will do them instead if they are truly necessary), or do like but not under such conditions such as long hours or under a strict hierarchy.
I am a cynical idealist so I don’t think there’s a way that doesn’t involve some sort of a compromise with people who think it should be different. Politics is not a way to determine who’s right or the most ethical but the means of working stuff out among groups with different interests. Maybe we can coalesce on something nice later on but for now we know that people can’t be forced into things they don’t want to be forced into. For now and probably forever we also need to coexist and that requires a common trading framework.
Happy birthday Microsoft, I won’t wish you dead because we need diversity in tech. Just don’t buy any more stuff. 🎊🥳🍾🪩
I do wish them dead, we need fewer proprietary companies which help cops and steals code for their LLM bullshit. Also less FUD and smears against FOSS, they are not FOSS’ friend and the sooner FOSS developers realise this and move to codeberg or their own forgejo instances the better.
Aside from the proprietary bit, there’s also an argument over companies existing for so long also just perpetuating wealth inequality since the same families hoard the wealth that the company generates. I wish I could remember where I saw the argument (I feel like it was probably an article associated with NPR), I found the arguments against allowing companies to reach 100 years old quite compelling.
Right, which is why we need to stop money existing or other forms of economies that allow for wealth/power inequality
In a perfect world that makes everyone happy there’s 5 Apples, 5 Microsofts, 10 open source projects funded by governments and 20 independent open source alternatives, all working same interoperable standards. I wish for a perfect world.
Why in a perfect world would anything be proprietary? I just don’t buy it.
Because some like proprietary and why would you make their lives harder? As long as it’s interoperable and a part of a broader healthy ecosystem there’s place for every approach.
Like, I wouldn’t mind if someone made a proprietary Activity Pub Reddit alternative. They could compete on some UI features, support, moderation etc. The more the merrier and we could all still talk.
Well, the only reason I can see them liking proprietary is because that money still exists and that money allows propietary companies (and open source to be fair) to do more. If money didn’t exist there would be no need for proprietary companies nor a need to ‘protect’ their ‘property’ and in my perfect world money doesn’t exist, therefore no need for proprietary code/products.
I can be called a commie and won’t flinch at it but currency is useful, you just don’t need to fetishise it. People should be rewarded for their work as long as it’s not some form of rentierism. How to organise it isn’t that relevant because there are many ways to achieve it.
I don’t think money or any form of it is the only way to reward people for their work (not that all people need a reward in that sense). I think that is it is might be because of this current system showing that the only way to be rewarded is through monetary compensation.
Also, I’m going to quibble here that the only reason why a lot of jobs currently done require a ‘reward’ is because of the conditions under which people labour, remove those conditions and there will be less of a need for incentives to keep people doing things they either don’t like (because they won’t do them and others that do like them will do them instead if they are truly necessary), or do like but not under such conditions such as long hours or under a strict hierarchy.
I am a cynical idealist so I don’t think there’s a way that doesn’t involve some sort of a compromise with people who think it should be different. Politics is not a way to determine who’s right or the most ethical but the means of working stuff out among groups with different interests. Maybe we can coalesce on something nice later on but for now we know that people can’t be forced into things they don’t want to be forced into. For now and probably forever we also need to coexist and that requires a common trading framework.