Post #1978070

2026-04-19 22:21 UTC

@johannab > FOSS has a very unfortunate weak spot in its foundation, that being the idea that “free” implies “without ownership” rather than “equitably shareable” 💯! Just dropped a #meme depicting how #SX considers #FOSS: https://social.coop/@smallcircles/116433599463361421 #Equity is the word. I wrote a blog on #SharedOwnership earlier: https://coding.social/blog/shared-ownership Note, that "libertarianism" is emergent, comes with scale. I avoid the term for its political heat it often introduces, and how that stifles #solution-orientation. > I make product actually meet the users’ needs, cuz damn, you didn’t! It's funny how actual #Needs are often totally unknown, esp. in FOSS. The #technology then quickly exists mostly for the sake of itself. Damn the externalities. Social coding commons defines FOSS as the pure software artifact. Code + an open license. Period. All the rest is #SocialCoding where all #expectations we have are either implied and unjustified, or warranted with mutual understanding. The latter is hardly done.

Replies (1)

@smallcircles@social.coop 2026-04-19 22:32

@johannab > One of my biggest lightbulb moments in systems theory class was realizing that even humans who may never directly interact within the scope of your design are very much still stakeholders Exactly, very true. It is funny.. a couple years ago and inspired by @aral tooting about it, I started practicing avoidance of the word "user". This now comes very natural to me, to the extent that so many uses of the word really poke me in the eye with how artificial, unnatural, distancing, and yes.. even inhumane they are. #CodingIsSocial #people! We "social code the social code" of #society. "User" is a #tech word, same as "Reverse proxy" or "Factory class". And its a leaky #abstraction that serves to lose all #nuance, and is best avoided. Furthermore it implies an #ownership relationship between devs and their captivated audience, that doesn't, shouldn't exist. I'm behind schedule on a #ParadoxOfEmergence blogpost, may address this.. https://discuss.coding.social/t/sx-sustainable-ecosystem-evolution-see/836 Ditch use of #user! ✊

Open ##1978071