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David Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)
David Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)
@david_chisnall@infosec.exchange  路  activity timestamp 23 hours ago

@kim

A lot of F/OSS does not understand Conway's Law and that they are copying systems that exist in the shape that they are because they are projections of organisations and business models into software architecture.

They are not designed to make modification easy, because making it easy for other people to modify and extend them makes it harder to sell the next version. They are not designed to interoperate with competitors' products, because that makes it easier to switch to competitors' things.

These are exactly the opposite of what a F/OSS project should look like if it wants to convince people to switch. It should be trivial to extend and modify, because that empowers the user and also means that they can address their use case without needing the original author to do any work. If it turns out that their problem is similar to other people's then it should be easy to share those improvements, either upstreaming them or distributing them along side. It should be easy to integrate with other systems because then your project doesn't need to reinvent the world, or grow and subsume the world, neither of which is desirable.

If you're selling software and you reach a state where it solves all of your users' in-scope problems, that's a disaster. You might be able to sell a few more copies as more people encounter the problem, but you're stagnant. People won't buy the next version unless you convince them to move to a subscription model, or you bolt in something that they don't really need but you can convince them they do.

If you're maintaining a F/OSS project and you solve all of the in-scope problems that users have, you've won. The project is done (modulo bug fixes and a little bit of ongoing maintenance as it needs to run in new environments). Now you can do something else. That's a totally different mindset to the COTS model and is why the most annoying F/OSS projects to deal with are the ones that try to look like COTS products.

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Gert V 馃嚨馃嚫
Gert V 馃嚨馃嚫
@gert@social.coop replied  路  activity timestamp 21 hours ago

@kim It could be helpful if there were places (other than Github) where people could indicate what they would like to collaborate on and what for. Perhaps even how. and where.

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David Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)
David Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)
@david_chisnall@infosec.exchange replied  路  activity timestamp 23 hours ago

@kim

A lot of F/OSS does not understand Conway's Law and that they are copying systems that exist in the shape that they are because they are projections of organisations and business models into software architecture.

They are not designed to make modification easy, because making it easy for other people to modify and extend them makes it harder to sell the next version. They are not designed to interoperate with competitors' products, because that makes it easier to switch to competitors' things.

These are exactly the opposite of what a F/OSS project should look like if it wants to convince people to switch. It should be trivial to extend and modify, because that empowers the user and also means that they can address their use case without needing the original author to do any work. If it turns out that their problem is similar to other people's then it should be easy to share those improvements, either upstreaming them or distributing them along side. It should be easy to integrate with other systems because then your project doesn't need to reinvent the world, or grow and subsume the world, neither of which is desirable.

If you're selling software and you reach a state where it solves all of your users' in-scope problems, that's a disaster. You might be able to sell a few more copies as more people encounter the problem, but you're stagnant. People won't buy the next version unless you convince them to move to a subscription model, or you bolt in something that they don't really need but you can convince them they do.

If you're maintaining a F/OSS project and you solve all of the in-scope problems that users have, you've won. The project is done (modulo bug fixes and a little bit of ongoing maintenance as it needs to run in new environments). Now you can do something else. That's a totally different mindset to the COTS model and is why the most annoying F/OSS projects to deal with are the ones that try to look like COTS products.

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Dr Kim Foale
Dr Kim Foale
@kim@social.gfsc.studio replied  路  activity timestamp yesterday

i feel like we are in a bit of a crisis zone right now where the old world is dying but the new world is struggling to be born.

i've never seen more people clamouring for community alternatives, and so few people willing to chip in regular time or money to make them happen.

at least in my networks, support of grassroots orgs that could make it happen is at a all time low.

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Dr Kim Foale
Dr Kim Foale
@kim@social.gfsc.studio replied  路  activity timestamp yesterday

all of this is leading to the aesthetics of community and the performance of outrage being valued over actually getting together and getting on with it

people are treating the few grassroots orgs there are like service providers and not mutual aid groups

the solutions are here but we have precious few people willing to slow down and ask how they can help and learn from the people doing the community work to make it happen (overwhelmingly femmes and trans people tbh)

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