“Yes, there are well-known problems with Microsoft. As they are with every mega-corporation or plutocrat. We have legal-institutional arrangements that enable the rise of such platform-owners, “platformarchs” as I call them, who control the very foundations of entire industries. To reform those, we need to get involved in politics. It is not pretty, I know all too well, but it is the only way we have to campaign for thoroughgoing changes. But the impression I get from many of the hacker types out there is the sentiment encapsulated in the phrase “let’s keep politics out of this”. You can have a purely technical discussion, sure, though you cannot expect to have others be your voice when you yourself remain silent: politics will run its course and you will be left there trying to come up with some half-measure that does more harm to yourself than the status quo.” https://protesilaos.com/codelog/2024-04-30-re-emacs-github-freedom-microsoft/
Oof, I need to think about this. I guess in a way it’s a reminder that “vote with your feet” is the recourse of those that have no voice in politics. The big players use politics to their advantage – and we must, too.
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