Web dev at the end of the world, from Hveragerði, Iceland

Bookmarks – More money for open-source

And other hopeful thoughts.


What I want, both for long-time maintainers like myself and for people starting out, is a way to get more money flowing into open source. There have been several stories in the news about underfunded, critical projects, but I think the problem affects most projects that aren't directly associated with a company: There are few direct incentives to pay for open source, so even projects with with enormous amounts of users often simply don't see enough money to pay for proper maintenance. The slack is sometimes picked up by the aforementioned young people without responsibilities, but that is rarely sustainable.

More Money For Better Open-Source Software by Marijn Haverbeke (1727 words).

It’s almost as if open source has become a system for transforming people’s leisure time into free labour for corporations—eating up people’s lives while driving them on with promises of future employment. (E.g. “GitHub is your resumé”.)


15 years ago, I had a long conversation with Bob Hughes (of Dust or Magic fame) about Free Software and open source. I was gushing about it

I talked about how it was going to change the world for the better, make software more egalitarian & democratic—I was a bit of an idealist

He then explained to me what was going to happen, how corporations and capitalism in general would twist the system to their benefit.

And pretty much everything he said has come true, the dynamics, the pressure on the ecosystem, and the lack of sustainability

(Huge fan of Bob’s. The conversations I had with him when I was in college were life-changing.)


Pro-tip: If you want better representation & diversity in comics, SFF, movies, etc, you can't just open the door & expect ppl to walk in+

— Imperator Fieriosa (@GeekMelange) August 4, 2015

+The onus is not on "the right person/team" to show up - that shows a questionable understanding of how allyship works*+

— Imperator Fieriosa (@GeekMelange) August 4, 2015

+The onus is on those w/power & privilege in those industries to create space & support for marginalized creators & better representation+

— Imperator Fieriosa (@GeekMelange) August 4, 2015

+You NEED to do outreach & do the work in BOTH action & word to show that marginalized ppl will be welcome & supported+

— Imperator Fieriosa (@GeekMelange) August 4, 2015

+This includes listening when ppl say you’ve screwed up & can do better. It sucks to be wrong, it’s embarrassing but ppl mess up+

— Imperator Fieriosa (@GeekMelange) August 4, 2015


Programming is a constant struggle between "What is harder: Implementing it myself, or understanding the existing, undocumented solution?"

— mcc (@mcclure111) July 8, 2015


2008 I'll sell apps for $2.99 & make millions
2010 At $0.99 I'll make $1000s
2012 Ads might cover my rent
2014 Kickstart my app
2015 Hire me

— Nick Lockwood (@nicklockwood) August 3, 2015


dear silicon valley, please disrupt:
- racism
- systemic discrimination
- the patriarchy

please do not disrupt:
- local businesses

thx.

— Tess Rinearson (@_tessr) August 4, 2015


The child next door is screaming “I hate you! I don’t like you!” over and over. Somebody get that kid a twitter account amiright

— Kate Leth (@kateleth) August 4, 2015


JavaScript's type coercion rules are autotune for programming. Even screaming gets turned into some standard value (probably the wrong one).

— Gary Bernhardt (@garybernhardt) August 4, 2015

I feel compelled to clarify that that toot should not be interpreted as some kind of moral claim about autotune or JavaScript being "bad".

— Gary Bernhardt (@garybernhardt) August 4, 2015


Amazon is recommending me books about Scrum and about North Korea. One is a cruel, irrational dictatorship and the other one is in Asia.

— Tom Morris (@tommorris) August 5, 2015


Conventions, particularly Gencon, tends to function as a filter that keeps the economically disadvantaged from joining the industry.

— Jason Pitre (@Genesisoflegend) August 4, 2015


Teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime. Teach all men to fish and the return to fishing will fall below subsistence levels.

— Noah Smith (@Noahpinion) August 4, 2015


If you believe there's some sort of legitimacy necessary to warrant an LGBT lead, it's because you want to limit their representation.

— Matt SantoriGriffith (@FotoCub) August 5, 2015

And if you think that diversity is something that should "happen organically," guess what? It fucking did at the dawn of humanity. Catch up.

— Matt SantoriGriffith (@FotoCub) August 5, 2015

If you are not including LGBT or POC characters or women in your stories set in some semblance of the real world, you're WRITING THEM OUT.

— Matt SantoriGriffith (@FotoCub) August 5, 2015

If you think it shouldn't matter to people of color to see SOME representation of themselves in creative role, it's because you always have.

— Matt SantoriGriffith (@FotoCub) August 5, 2015


President Hennessy on Peter Thiel's ideas about dropping out of school: "Do you know how many Stanford degrees Peter Thiel has? Three."

— Alexia Tsotsis (@alexia) August 5, 2015


The tech industry intensifies this crisis by paying obscene prices for just about any home they can in the Valley, creating one of the most visible and notorious gentrification crises in modern history. 

Once wealthy startup employees move in with private washing machines and, yes, on-demand laundry apps, they stop patronizing services needed by the locals, many of whom don't own washer/dryer units and can't afford a luxury laundry service. And because the startup scene has inflated the price of the local real estate, rents go up, and laundromats — like other services many working-class families depend on — can't afford to stay.

One Tweet Shows What Silicon Valley Really Thinks of the People It’s Crushing by Jack Smith IV (1085 words).

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