[karpierz]

It's worth reading in a little more detail.

One of the core points is that "Feudalism" as used outside of academic discussion loses its semantic meaning beyond being a synonym for "oppressive". And so trying to discuss when feudalism starts inevitably falls into a discussion of "when did Europe get oppressive".

[superkuh]

I don't think so. In the context of tech feudalism maps really well. People cannot protect their own forums/communities running on their own hardware from attack and/or futureshock from rapid change in underlying libs. So everyone depends on single entities with enough resources to keep community software running.

[lolinder]

The argument isn't that "feudalism" maps poorly onto modern concepts, it's that "feudalism" is a modern concept that doesn't exist as such historically. It seems to map well onto modern forms of oppression because the word is essentially synonymous with oppressive behavior.

[cheaprentalyeti]

My suggestion: use the term "Patron/Client" instead of feudalism and you'll be able to see/show all the cruddy political effects without having to map everything in Techbroland to the legalities of grazing sheep.

[lo_zamoyski]

It's a lazy pejorative, like "fascist".