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   Richard MacManus (ricmac@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Jan-2025 23:44:54 JST Richard MacManus

   1/3 The discourse about the #OpenWeb has become too black and white for my liking in this new political reality we’re all in now. Just because you support the open web doesn’t necessarily mean you are “left-wing” or a “marxist” — just as continuing to be on X or Meta products doesn’t necessarily make you “right-wing” or a “capitalist”. It’s not that simple, there are many shades of grey.

   • Tim Chambers repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Richard MacManus (ricmac@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Jan-2025 23:44:54 JST Richard MacManus

     in reply to

     • Eugen Rochko

     2/3 Personally, I consider myself a “liberal”, but I’m closer to the capitalist side of the spectrum than marxist. In tech terms, that means I am a fan of startups and entrepreneurs. It’s OK to try and build a successful company with open technologies — e.g. I admire what @mike and @marci are doing with Flipboard. I actually wish @Gargron could earn more income from Mastodon. I’m ok with Bluesy trying to be a successful company with decentralised technologies.

     Tim Chambers repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Richard MacManus (ricmac@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Jan-2025 23:45:14 JST Richard MacManus

     in reply to

     • timbl

     3/3 Of course, there are risks for users and sometimes trade-offs with a commercial company building on open tech. And sometimes those companies go too far or you simply don’t trust them (e.g. Meta and why I’ve always been suspicious of their entry into the fediverse). But there’s nothing wrong with trying to build a business on the open web — heck, even @timbl is doing that now. I’m fine with people posting their marxist or capitalist opinions, but remember there is a middle ground here.