lobsters score: 23 · tags: culture, linux
I find it interesting that folks often play down or dismiss the fact that Linux is Free Software, as if it isn’t part of an ecosystem founded upon and dedicated to the idea of sharing source code. I also find it interesting that the Linux Foundation has lost its pride in funding a portion of that ecosystem.
Dogfooding isn’t necessary, but it is both a point of optics and also of how well our ecosystem satisfies and provides for its inhabitants. As builders of Free Software, we should have a modicum of satisfaction from our tooling; it is, in a specific sense, a failure of Free Software when Free Software’s own proponents choose non-free alternatives for any purpose, let alone the purpose of self-promotion and legibility to the rest of the community.
score 9 · canonical
I think you get at the heart of the comments - this article has a big baked-in assumption that the LF is committed to the FSF’s principles, and nobody sees any reason it should be. Examining that assumption and the marginalization of the FSF over the last couple decades would be a really interesting article. This one comes off as a troll.
score 5 · canonical
I don’t agree with the criticism of the stock photo. That’s reuse, under fair terms, of the image. Seems like the spirit of open source.
The complaint about the software is more appropriate. It’s not surprising to me, having worked at the Linux Foundation a few years ago; all the engineers used Linux but all of the business and marketing folks there used Windows and macOS. Still disappointing.
score 8 · canonical
Better than a stock photo is no photo. If you need to show smiling faces, show your team instead of random/anonymous persons. It is more authentic and credible.
score 6 · canonical
Until there are Linux equivalents, not just “clones,” of the Adobe toolchain in Linux, this is to be expected. You can hire professional designers and let them use the tools they need, or you can say “GIMP and Scribus only!” and turn out terrible looking publications because most designers won’t work with those tools.
Alternately, they could use LaTeX or troff and produce the sorts of documents that those tools are great at producing.
score 4 · canonical