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by JoelMcCracken 2567 days ago
How many companies had a policy like EEE that we know of? How many has presented an existential threat to open source and free software as a whole?

I have dislike for MS because of these actions. I recognize that this may have changed. But, how do I know that extinguish isn't coming?
1 comments
ocdtrekkie 2567 days ago
But how to you deal with the fundamental disconnect of worrying about a twenty year gone policy when Google has successfully already completed the extinguish phase? How many truly open source mobile operating systems have died under the foot of Android, an open source Trojan horse?

I mean, heck, look at the hijinks Google has engaged in with Edge after Microsoft agreed to switch to their open source browser engine! Suddenly it would stop working with modern YouTube, and then Google's like "Oops", and undoes it. But ex-Mozilla devs have pointed out that this is a recurring strategy for Google: https://www.zdnet.com/article/former-mozilla-exec-google-has...

Or the impending death of ad blocking in Chrome with Manifest V3 shortly after Google introduced their own ad blocker that doesn't impede their own ads?

Why obsess about the possibility that a company which hasn't extinguished in a while, when their competitors are actively doing it right now? I'd say if your focus is on Microsoft, you're worrying about the wrong target, at least for the moment. The return of evil Microsoft is certainly possible and given enough time, even likely, but evil Google and evil Facebook and evil Amazon are here today.

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JoelMcCracken 2567 days ago
Oh I am with you 100% about Google, trust me there. But, they aren't the topic of this article. I stopped caring for Google when they dropped the moniker "do no evil" and went into censored search in China at about the same time. I think this was like 2006/7?

What I more dislike is how people seem to think that corporations are inherently moral, just, good, or "on our side". I mean, come on with a title like '"Great Satan" no more', this is clearly a moral conversation.

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ocdtrekkie 2567 days ago
Corporations will generally act in the most profitable way, sometimes it seems altruistic because there's value in winning customer loyalty or developer respect. But they are fundamentally amoral and should never be trusted to act in your best interests.

For this reason, holding a twenty year grudge against a company is just as illogical as standing by one for twenty years because you think they're the good guys. In twenty years, any given business' strategy has probably shifted five times.

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JoelMcCracken 2567 days ago
> shifted five times.

If not more! My main concern is it shifting back. MS made a TON of money, and was at the height of its glory in the old ways. That kind of thing leaves a mark that fades very slowly.

I've always been worried about how centralized the FLOSS community has become w/ Github. Now its even more of a problem!

I'll be the first to admit that I have a emotional dislike for MS. However, I still have reasons for why I think its a bad idea to for the industry to trust them, aside from my personal feelings. For a long time I had generally positive feelings toward Google. I still generally like Github (though they have their share of problems) while acknowledging it is problematic for the larger community.

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