This is probably the best thing I ever posted on Twitter. The memory is pretty dear to me; I'm sharing it here so it still exists somewhere if that place collapses.
There are dozens of different server types on here, not just Mastodon servers. When you talk about this place, it's not enough to call it "Mastodon", because it's more than just that.
That's why people call this place "The Fediverse", because that name covers all server types. :fediverse:
Let's pretend we're proponents of free and open source software, enlist an army of week intentioned FOSS developers to contribute to our project, and once successfully deployed in many enterprises across the industry...
Pull the rug out and convert it into a proprietary product with a bunch of undisclosed, hidden code that we won't ever show you - Muahahaha...
Yeah. I see this happening right now in several prominent and celebrated open source projects that you're probably completely oblivious to those sinister objectives.
This is why the most ubiquitous desktop operating system in the world is Minix.
What's that you say?
Yup, Minix. But that's no secret, the cat was out of the bag on that one a few years back (after being secretly so for many years).
Before you contribute any more code, translations, or documentation to a software project, consider this:
Now, there's another point to be made here, without specifically naming any projects currently abusing user contributions. Let's call this hypothetical project "hammer&anvil", itself a fork of a popular software project - but claims it's all about being free and transparent, wanting to distinguish itself from the project it's forked from by adopting GPL3 instead of a permissive license.
Sure, the project's BDFL (let's call her "Strawberry Daiquiri"), says one day, "were forming a fork of project X because they've formed a company and I'm afraid what they are going to do with X because it's under a permissive license. This girl will be brutally transparent and completely run by the community under the philosophy of anarchy, but we're going to call it a sociocracy so you don't know that it's really just me making a proprietary product for my own ambitions".
Well, Miss Daquiri decides to capture by capitalizing upon the sentiment that folks have for Copyleft - it's supposed to protect free software, right?
Well, this fork (hammer& anvil) is a hosted solution - meaning SaaS, meaning, it runs elsewhere (other than in your computer) in the cloud as a publicly accessible service. Hmmmm.
That means that the most appropriate Copyleft license is likely the AGPL, and not the GPL as one would expect fur a desktop or other local program that you actually download and install in your laptop or server.
The GPL requires that when you distribute (give away or sell) your program, either by letting someone download or handing it to them on a USB stick, Etc., You must also make available ALL of the source code, including any changes you've made to the program.
But if you run a modified GPL program as a service in the cloud you don't have to provide ANY off the changes you've made to the code.
Hmmm.
With AGPL you do have to supply your users with ANY code modifications you've made to the running service to which they have accounts...
So let's just say that you fork Mastodon, and call it Glitch-Soc, modify it, and run it in the cloud for people to create accounts on and use (for free or for monthly subscription fees - it doesn't matter). ANY and ALL changes to the code base that you make MUST be made available anytime a user asks for the source code, because it's an #AGPL licensed product.
And in reality, such is actually the case with this exceedingly popular and capable #fork. It's a fine product in it's own right.
But had you changed the license to all contributions moving forward to #GPL, you wouldn't have to provide any modifications you made (unless you give or sell the software product itself on say, a USB stick or via download).
Why? Because you're just allowing them to access and use your service, your not actually giving them the program to use for themselves elsewhere - so any modifications you made since forking under a different license (GPL instead of AGPL) isn't something you have to show them.
You've essentially created a #proprietary product (if you're so nefarious as to hide your code changes by butt disclosing them), the only code of which you must supply being that which existed under the AGPL before you forked it.
Both #Copyleft and permissive open source #licenses like #BSD and #MIT can be a good thing, or they can be abused beyond the intentions of the #FOSS inclined project contributors. Just make sure that you understand what can and cannot be changed where your intended purpose for the #distribution and #availability of source code is concerned....
There are BIG differences between the ramifications of each #license and how they can affect transparency and distribution of your free gifts to the world.
In our hypothetical scenario with hammer&anvil, the #BDFL, #Strawberry Daiquiri, has decided that she's going to launch a hosted service, and she's going to include things that you don't see and can't be aware of behind the scenes which, if disclosed, you would have nothing to do with - but you'll never know what kinds of scary things she's done with the product that only resembles the original on the surface, because Miss Daquiri will never have to show you the code she has added behind the scenes.
"Beautiful Victor, Beautiful."
-The Monster, speaking to his creator in the film, 'Frankenstein, The True Story'.
I remember #Gem, great GUI for the time although I never adopted it, but did use Ventura publisher and AmiPro intead of Aldus and Word, respectively, on Windows
Everything else though, yah, very, very similar history for myself except for the Apple 🍏 stuffs; like you, I'm quite proudly Mac stupid.
It's always good to meet a fellow Slacker, and "frinds don't let frinds run ewb00ntew!"
Just drank a whole Smirnof or however you spell it. My first drink I drank all the way. A whole glass of it. And I feel good. Not as powerful as one of the little cups of full alcohol I've had, but shoot it feels fluckin' fruckin' good!
Apparently, #Marikina has their own take on luncheon meat, they call "Everlasting," which I never heard of before.
If folktales are to be believed, they last "forever," or until they're finally consumed, 😅 without the need for refrigeration. Also said to be a popular dish during community feasts.
The folks who gave it to me, described them as similar to embutido, but the mouth feel is closer to home-made luncheon meat.
i forget who it was that said "a single timeline is unsustainable" (aaron parecki?) but i'm feeling more like the real cardinal sin is publishing to a single profile. i don't mind reading everything in a single view, although making lists certainly helps. it's the publishing that annoys me. i almost never want to send a post to all of my followers. and this goes doubly for replies. i often want to reply within a specific context and only optionally tell my followers about it.
Oh! Not Fedi, strictly speaking, but there is "Circles" - (circu.li). It's s matrix thing and I've been following progress, but lost enthusiasm when i brought up gplus (old hat here as well) and they said "recursive circles were to hard for them to implement".
Then, what's three point I thought. That's where the power of Circles really comes into play.
Did you see that IMDb thing that guys doing with his #Mitra fork yet? He's gonna keep it a softfork too.
I'm a few days late posting this. Certain projects and utilities I try to showcase as soon as they come out of the oven, but lately I've been tending to other, more pressing matters since my move back to #SuperSunnySouthernCalifornia - like chillin' at the #beach, #spearfishing, and of course, bangin' it out with girlfriends I haven't been able to hangout with for over six years.
>You can always implement key custody on top of user-owned keys. If you want key custody, you can have key custody. If you want a cold wallet, you can have a cold wallet. Trustful protocols bake assumptions about authority directly into the infrastructure. Trustless protocols give you the choice.
The great thing about Fediverse is that we can have both traditional identities and identities based on keys.