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Modern Web 101: From Free Software Fetishism to Free Web

nexedi.com

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Re: Modern Web 101: From Free Software Fetishism to Free Web

#4

Post by peller »

The author never defined "Free Software Ideals." Maybe I've gone off the deep end, but as somebody who's tried very hard to exclusively use free software since I was about 10, I don't think (s)he's coming anywhere close to promoting them with this article. Have I gone crazy?

Edit: OK, so I read further. Their end goal appears legit, but damn, that introduction has the opposite effect as it should. Or, perhaps, their target audience is closed-source users who like to make fun of those of us who have already escaped?

Re: Modern Web 101: From Free Software Fetishism to Free Web

#5

Post by luhn »

The content about the Free Web was interesting. I wasn't aware of all the things that Chrome was capable of, especially with NaCl, something I've only briefly heard about. The Free Web movement seems like it will become more and more important as people and software migrate to the browser.

Yet instead of focusing on education, the primary purpose of the article seemed to be attacking me. Somehow being a user of vim and git on a POSIX platform makes me a Free Software Fetishist. Somehow not using open source in every part of my development stack makes me an enemy of free software. This article calls me a fetishist and tells me to open my mind to new ideas, then tells me that there is One True Path. The Free Web coming into being does not devalue the software that came before it.

An important part of free software is community. The author would do better with a helping hand rather than a fist to the face.

Re: Modern Web 101: From Free Software Fetishism to Free Web

#6

Post by 0xCMP »

What he's trying to say is: Look at all the people who are almost exclusively on the web? All the people who will grow up going to the web first. A web built by those who like free software.

They will want web solutions, but they won't become free software contributors if they don't have the chance. If we don't build the projects/solutions. So he's asking you to experience how they view the web so you can develop the solutions to pain points you only understand by experiencing the web like that.

Re: Modern Web 101: From Free Software Fetishism to Free Web

#8

Post by redleggedfrog »

api wrote: post #3
keithnz wrote: post #2

Seems weird, maybe I'm missing something, but it's wanting you to free yourself from Macs / Windows... embrace free.... then immediately tie yourself to google?

It's a training phase to experience what the modern web can do.

You don't need a Chromebook and Google to do that. You can run all that junk in a web browser too, and still have a decent machine to use for serious work.

Re: Modern Web 101: From Free Software Fetishism to Free Web

#9

Post by trackpad »

My personal reasons for "fetishism":

- Control: I can see the source of all these old tools, and copy/modify them if I wish. I don't have to rely on my "tools" being hosted on a black box in the ether.

- Privacy: Why would I want to use the internet to host all my files, to edit all my files, or to search through my files? Just, why?

- Speed: I am much, much more productive with emacs/vi and the command-line versus anything else I have ever tried. The only exception might be a desktop (or web!) app tailored perfectly to a specific custom purpose. But if want to talk about apps in "general"? Maintaining umpteen tabs in a browser all the time? Needing to USE a browser?

It reads like you're asking developers to turn away from some of the most lauded and evolved systems and tools, so the reason needs to be incredibly compelling. Why?

Now for the (largely) emotional aspect:

- We love the command line and our extremely powerful text editors. We believe the "future" should be built on those concepts, or at least built in a way harmonious with their continued use and evolution.

- I don't like browsers. But many do, so we can ignore this point really.

I really, really, REALLY hate the direction of companies like Microsoft. I ditched Windows for Linux a couple of years ago after Office 360 made plain exactly the direction they intend to push us: all our files will be hosted somewhere outside of our full control, and ultimately our APPLICATIONS themselves will be hosted in a similar way.

Some people are strongly opposed to a future of "dumb terminals" and/or "appliances" and are instead strongly in favor of general-purpose computing as the future. See: http://boingboing.net/2012/08/23/civilwar.html

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