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iTerm2 removes AI feature from core, creates separate plugin

gitlab.com

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Re: iTerm2 removes AI feature from core, creates separate plugin

#41

Post by galad87 »

asdajksah2123 wrote: post #36
ThrowawayTestr wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure he's tired from the horde of idiots angry that he implemented an entirely optional feature.

Entirely optional features that have a history of not becoming optional anymore in many other applications and quite evidently can easily be installed as a plugin instead. Further, why in the world would you include a completely optional feature that runs afoul of many companies' software policies? And will be blocked by many companies even if it doesn't run afoul of their policies because nearly every competently ru…

I wonder how those companies will deal with the upcoming AI features in Windows and macOS.

Re: iTerm2 removes AI feature from core, creates separate plugin

#42

Post by matwood »

akira2501 wrote: post #38
Cu3PO42 wrote: post #22

I feel really sorry for the developer. I've only been a casual observer, but from my view point the community's reaction was... not great, to put it lightly. I get that a lot of us are tired of 'AI' being shoved down our throat at every possible turn. I get that a lot of us have privacy concerns. I get that maybe you don't want it in your terminal emulator. But iTerm is a free (both as in gratis and as in libre) open…

[flagged]

Why does a developer for an OSS project add any feature? They felt like it.

Re: iTerm2 removes AI feature from core, creates separate plugin

#43

Post by zeroxfe »

akira2501 wrote: post #38
Cu3PO42 wrote: post #22

I feel really sorry for the developer. I've only been a casual observer, but from my view point the community's reaction was... not great, to put it lightly. I get that a lot of us are tired of 'AI' being shoved down our throat at every possible turn. I get that a lot of us have privacy concerns. I get that maybe you don't want it in your terminal emulator. But iTerm is a free (both as in gratis and as in libre) open…

[flagged]

> why did the developer decide to add the feature in the first place? Was it community feedback or some other mechanism that inspired this choice?

You're moving the goalposts and again putting the developer in a position where they have to justify themselves. Which they don't. As GP puts it: "But iTerm is a free (both as in gratis and as in libre) open source project. The developer released a feature that they were probably happy and excited about."

Re: iTerm2 removes AI feature from core, creates separate plugin

#44

Post by joshstrange »

This whole ordeal was absolutely absurd and anyone who commented on that Gitlab thread, here on HN, or on other social media are the biggest bunch of entitled crybabies I've ever seen.

I've said my piece on this many times over the last few days here on HN so I won't repeat myself but if you were one of the people complaining then I want you to know in no uncertain terms that you are what's wrong with open source and you are why people don't want to maintain open source projects, you should really be ashamed of yourselves.

Re: iTerm2 removes AI feature from core, creates separate plugin

#45

Post by irskep »

Cu3PO42 wrote: post #22

I feel really sorry for the developer. I've only been a casual observer, but from my view point the community's reaction was... not great, to put it lightly. I get that a lot of us are tired of 'AI' being shoved down our throat at every possible turn. I get that a lot of us have privacy concerns. I get that maybe you don't want it in your terminal emulator. But iTerm is a free (both as in gratis and as in libre) open…

I wonder if a lot of the heated discussion is purely an emotional reaction to be hit with "AI feature onboarding" immediately after a normally-drama-free terminal emulator software update. If they had gone with a much more low-key way of notifying users of the feature, maybe folks would be more reasonable.

Not that I blame the maintainers for using the approach they did, though! Usually you do want to be super obvious about new things.

Re: iTerm2 removes AI feature from core, creates separate plugin

#46

Post by Larrikin »

akira2501 wrote: post #38
Cu3PO42 wrote: post #22

I feel really sorry for the developer. I've only been a casual observer, but from my view point the community's reaction was... not great, to put it lightly. I get that a lot of us are tired of 'AI' being shoved down our throat at every possible turn. I get that a lot of us have privacy concerns. I get that maybe you don't want it in your terminal emulator. But iTerm is a free (both as in gratis and as in libre) open…

[flagged]

Probably wasn't from a bad faith comment, but what exactly the post you replied to said. Local LLM is an exciting tech and the author probably thought it was cool to add to his free thing he gives away.

Re: iTerm2 removes AI feature from core, creates separate plugin

#47

Post by rockemsockem »

akira2501 wrote: post #38
Cu3PO42 wrote: post #22

I feel really sorry for the developer. I've only been a casual observer, but from my view point the community's reaction was... not great, to put it lightly. I get that a lot of us are tired of 'AI' being shoved down our throat at every possible turn. I get that a lot of us have privacy concerns. I get that maybe you don't want it in your terminal emulator. But iTerm is a free (both as in gratis and as in libre) open…

[flagged]

They probably thought it would be useful based on their own and others experiences.

There are many other terminal emulators with these features now and they chose to add this now popular feature in a very thoughtful way.

Re: iTerm2 removes AI feature from core, creates separate plugin

#48

Post by janice1999 »

fallingsquirrel wrote: post #20
janice1999 wrote: post #10

I'm not an iTerm2 user and the attitude of the developer in the response has certainly convinced me to never become one. I understand open source developers get burnt out, particularly with backlash from demanding users who contribute nothing in return, but the contempt for users with very valid concerns about AI and data leaks is not a healthy sign.

You won't use iTerm2 because the dev made a joke about some companies' overly-restrictive IT departments?

Nothing in the comment seems like a "joke" to me. It reads as bitter and condescending and based on the responses here I am not the only one to interpret it that way. That's not the kind of project I'd want to depend on.

I think the root of this issue here is trust and control. I work for a company with a restrictive IT department. It's not "overly-restrictive" because the data with we work with is sensitive. Banning all AI enabled products, which my company did, is absolutely the logical and safe thing to do. (We have self hosted hosted AI solutions and limited GitHub CoPilot access now.)

Re: iTerm2 removes AI feature from core, creates separate plugin

#49

Post by ecjhdnc2025 »

glhaynes wrote: post #13

People are making their whole personalities about being anti-AI. I'm personally a mix of skeptical+worried about AI; but at some point just being a reactionary ninny makes people tune out on whether there might be some truth at the core of your concern.

It's an interesting point. I too am deeply skeptical and worried, and I would be concerned people think I am "anti-AI". Which I am not -- not least because it's a sixty-plus-year-old discipline that has a development history that spans long before OpenAI and the current burst of empty calories.

But if there's something I am building into my personality, it is rejecting (and calling out) grift. That is what makes me seethe about this entire big picture. The hype, the cultural parasitism, and the callous, blasé "oh yeah if you're not using this already you're probably fucked" FUD/FOMO shit smoothie that generative-AI people seem entirely too comfortable dishing up.

People who even seem in a hurry to jump on that hype train are going to catch the same side eye.

Re: iTerm2 specifically: I don't use iTerm2. I didn't mind it when I did. I wish the developer luck; terminal apps always need more attention. And in this case I don't think a tickbox to switch something on would trouble me.

But if I really relied on a product, seeing its developer divide attention and start shoehorning in LLM APIs to gain a bit of contemporary relevance would at least slightly bother me.

Like when one of your least rigorous-thinking friends or relatives starts talking to you about some opportunity to do with Ethereum. Not often a positive sign.

(This Gitlab issue is not the silliest overreaction I've seen. At the height of the Apple/Samsung Android lawsuit proxy war, I once saw someone demand in a support thread that Wacom remove some Android connection tools that one or more of their smart tablets were using, because Android was "stolen property" or somesuch obviously Jobsian phrasing.)

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