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Search - "open source software(oss)"
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What I'm posting here is my 'manifesto'/the things I stand for. You may like it, you may hate it, you may comment but this is what I stand for.
What are the basic principles of life? one of them is sharing, so why stop at software/computers?
I think we should share our software, make it better together and don't put restrictions onto it. Everyone should be able to contribute their part and we should make it better together. Of course, we have to make money but I think that there is a very good way in making money through OSS.
Next to that, since the Snowden releases from 2013, it has come clear that the NSA (and other intelligence agencies) will try everything to get into anyone's messages, devices, systems and so on. That's simply NOT okay.
Our devices should be OUR devices. No agency should be allowed to warrantless bypass our systems/messages security/encryptions for the sake of whatever 'national security' bullshit. Even a former NSA semi-director traveled to the UK to oppose mass surveillance/mass govt. hacking because he, himself, said that it doesn't work.
We should be able to communicate freely without spying. Without the feeling that we are being watched. Too badly, the intelligence agencies of today do not want us to do this and this is why mass surveillance/gag orders (companies having to reveal their users' information without being allowed to alert their users about this) are in place but I think that this is absolutely wrong. When we use end to end encrypted communications, we simply defend ourselves against this non-ethical form of spying.
I'm a heavy Signal (and since a few days also Riot.IM (matrix protocol) (Riot.IM with end to end crypto enabled)), Tutanota (encrypted email) and Linux user because I believe that only those measures (open source, reliable crypto) will protect against all the mass spying we face today.
The applications/services I strongly oppose are stuff like WhatsApp (yes, encryted messages but the metadata is readily available and it's closed source), skype, gmail, outlook and so on and on and on.
I think that we should OWN our OWN data, communications, browsing stuffs, operating systems, softwares and so on.
This was my rant.17 -
Mini rant ahead:
So just wanted to get something off of my chest in relation to something that continues to prop up constantly in the OSS community.
OSS is not better than proprietary software and proprietary software is not greater than OSS.
Sick of seeing people complain when they see someone using proprietary software like google chrome and the like in comparison to open source alternatives.
We understand that the freedom offered by OSS is clearly better but we should not 'hate' or 'actively avoid' proprietary software.
Key example for me personally is that I use Gamemaker Studio 2 to develop my games and the amount of people who keep negatively branding that choice and tell me to use Godot because it is 'better' and 'open source'
People just really need to respect other peoples choices, if you have something to say on the matter when you see someone using something you may not agree with, sure say your opinion, but don't defend it and go on the attack because other people use differently licensed software.
* And end scene *28 -
Riddle me this
Client wants solution based on open source software.
Any additional software that I write (let's say, an offline store plugin for Feast feature store) to add missing functionality has to be closed source.
Fuck you. Intellectual property my ass. You and me wouldn't even have projects if it werent for OSS.
Good luck maintaining the plugin after I am gone.
I'm doing a lot of work and will have close to nothing to show to future employers.
(BTW, if it were for the old Microsoft model of code source, I would have never become a programmer of any sort. God bless OSS)3 -
Blender3D
Probably the most feature rich, frequently updated oss for computer graphics ever.
The project really captures the spirit of open source, most notably with it's open movie projects.
It does have a pretty steep learning curve, but taking the time to lean it is totally worth it. Not to mention comparable Autodesk software will run you thousands of $$$1 -
Open source is poison, hoax and source of much troubles.
Even as I love OSS, and I use it a lot, when things go south, they go south terribly.
There was "security" updates in one OSS program I have been using, that accidentally prevented use cases which specifically affected me. I raised bug report, made issue and gave small repro for it.
One of the core developers acknowledges that yes, this is problem, and could be handled with few added options, which users of similar use case could use to keep things working. He then tags issue "needs help" and disappears.
After I have waited some time, I ask help how I could fix it myself, like how to setup proper dev environment for that tool. Asked it in their forums few days later, as issue didn't get any response. Then asked help in their slack, as forums didn't get any help.
Figured out how to get dev environment up, fix done (~4 lines changed, adding simple check for option enabled or not) and figured out how to test that this works.
I create pull request to project, checking their CONTRIBUTING and following instructions there. Then I wait. I wait two weeks, and then one of the core develors goes to add label "needs response from maintainer". That is now almost two weeks ago...
So, bug that appeared in October, and issue that was created October 8th, is still not fixed, even as there is fix in PR for 28 days this far.
And what really ticks me off? People who make statements like: "it is OSS, have you thought of contributing and fixing things yourself?" when we run into problems with open source software.
Making fix yourself ain't biggest problem... but getting it actually applied seems to be biggest roadblock. This kind of experiences doesn't really encourage me to spend time fixing bugs in OSS, time is often better spend changing to different tool, or making changes in my own workflow or going around problem some kludge way.
I try to get business starting, and based on OSS tools. But my decision is staggering, as I had also made decision to contribute back to OSS... but first experiences ain't that encouraging.
Currently, OSS feels like cancer.17 -
So for the past 2 weeks, i have been diving deep into the realm of open source software ever since I came across the idea of self-hosting. It is just crazy to discover the huge variety of open source self-hostable alternatives to proprietary software
I am completely blown away by the OSS community1 -
To create a really amazing OSS, I don't even care if anyone uses it or if it becomes popular or anything, I just want to do it to prove to myself that I don't need to get paid to write good code, I can do it to make the world a better place too.
This has really been my main goal for a long time now, sure I've written some a few OSS but I don't consider them up to that standard yet, but I am working on something right now that will get close if I ever manage to finish it and if it is well written.