We (as FOSS community) should have norms that NIH'd new data formats, protocols, etc. from Facebook, Google, etc. are automatically rejected. This doesn't mean we don't implement support where needed for accessing people's data encumbered by them, but we don't do gratuitous bs like putting zstd in debug sections that gives them clout and credibility.
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Rich Felker (dalias@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 07-Jan-2026 20:59:31 JST
Rich Felker
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Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: (lanodan@queer.hacktivis.me)'s status on Thursday, 08-Jan-2026 00:56:55 JST
Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
@dalias Reminds me that typically I want at least a 2nd implementation for data formats, protocols, …
And even more when it comes from ones like Google or Facebook as they are known for horrible technical choices (like anti-packaging buildsystems and languages which don't bootstrap) but also for dropping projects with little to no announcements. -
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Rich Felker (dalias@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 08-Jan-2026 00:58:13 JST
Rich Felker
@lanodan Not just a second implementation, but editorial control over future direction of the format/protocol firmly out of the hands of the company or people under its thumb.
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Lars (luatic@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 08-Jan-2026 08:36:54 JST
Lars
@dalias No, we should not.
Open formats with high quality open implementations should be judged by their merit. This includes concerns over future maintenance and direction of projects, as well as the cost of switching standards - regardless of whether something is by big tech or not.
Open source should not be stuck on suboptimal standards just because, quite literally, they were "not invented here [in our community]".
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Rich Felker (dalias@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 08-Jan-2026 08:36:54 JST
Rich Felker
@luatic 🙄 MeRiToCrAcY!!!!1111
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Rich Felker (dalias@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 10-Jan-2026 15:00:18 JST
Rich Felker
@lunareclipse It's just that we didn't need yet another compression format, especially not shoved into all sorts of places where it makes breaking incompatibilities between different versions of tooling that's otherwise been stable for decades. Certainly not at the expense of handing power to Facebook.
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Luna :neofox_snug: (lunareclipse@snug.moe)'s status on Saturday, 10-Jan-2026 15:00:20 JST
Luna :neofox_snug:
@dalias what
zstd is literally one of the best general purpose compression algorithms out there and it's open source (reference impl dual licensed BSD or GPLv2)
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