Post #616183

2026-03-07 08:23 UTC

vim, harfbuzz, who's next? people ask in shock, but... i think, fundamentally, the reason Claude and Codex are becoming part of crucial FOSS projects is the same reason xz almost became the entry point for mass-scale server hacking a few years ago. we've decided to make billion dollar industries rely on burned out, lonely individual developers who never found a way to get paid for their labor. we never managed to solve that problem. these burned out, lonely devs see a tool that spits out the boring part of their work in a more or less functional manner if you squint, and it "only" (*) costs "$200" (**) a month. i can imagine why most people take it. heck, i won't deny that i am tempted myself, but my convictions remain too strong. i've also seen some say that these people should step down and make way for new developers. who, exactly? i know how many months it took me to find a maintainer for one of the more popular Minecraft mods, and that's a position with both far more takers and far less responsibility on either side. i think that a lot of what's going to happen to software in the next few years is the consequence of long term systemic issues. the introduction of LLM tools to the equation is merely an illuminant and accelerant

Replies (9)

@LunaFoxgirlVT@mastodon.gamedev.place 2026-03-10 17:30

@asie as part of Inochi2D I *am* working on a library to eventually be an alternative to harfbuzz. Contributions are welcome as long as they aren't vibe coded. https://github.com/Inochi2D/hairetsu

Open ##616188
@dzwiedziu@mastodon.social 2026-03-08 07:19

@asie “Illuminant” and “accelerant” so a fire accelerant? :thonking:

Open ##616189
@tehrealgh5tbusters@woof.tech 2026-03-07 23:05

@asie Wait, they're vibe coding vim??? MOTHERFUCKING VIM???

Open ##616190
@twosky2000@mastodon.social 2026-03-07 16:01

@asie [me: hobby script kiddy] For me AI is a tool, more about learning and menial tasks. It is not a golden bullet(answer for everything). It is sad that we still do not have dignified income or a plan for it. That would make the whole AI problem go away or would at least make it technical. [Optimistic View] I can also imagine that it could help with coordination of work, especially for single user or small groups.

Open ##616191
@eris@p.enes.lv 2026-03-07 15:32

it "only" () costs "$200" () a month. Also wouldn't be surprised if LLM companies are giving those tool maintainers generous free trials as well. Similar to how every third modern Java or Kotlin project on GitHub has a JetBrains ad in the readme.

Open ##616192
@Pi_rat__dup_20011@freesoftwareextremist.com 2026-03-07 14:30

@asie Vim is slopped?!?? Link plox

Open ##616193
@Amikke@qoto.org 2026-03-07 13:58

@asie I think, fundamentally, that a tool mimicking a cheap, very fast and very enthusiastic intern is a no-brainer, and the only considerations are the cost and any moral issues. Cost isn't high and moral issues are mostly made up by people mad that their jobs are being automated, so increasing adoption is only the matter of time and people realising they're fighting windmills.

Open ##616194
@piku@blahaj.zone 2026-03-07 21:42

@asie@mk.asie.pl uhh were the (*) and the (**) supposed to mean smth/go to some footnote?

Open ##721339
@hannah@moonserver.yorha.nexus 2026-03-07 11:34

@asie@mk.asie.pl These thoughts were floating around in this head as well.... but Hannah lacked the ability to express what you very elegantly put into words. The underlying issues were never addressed... and the symptoms are now showing up everywhere. Thanks for putting this into words~ :neobot_cat_ears_heart_cybre:

Open ##721340