Notices by Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿 (lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz), page 3

Lotus Notes didn't have a Linux client... which meant I'd need to run Windows in order to function within the organisation. So I quit. And I started my own company. Never regretted it.

@ColetteDiskette don't worry - I get it (I still, very grudgingly, use Facebook, but I disinfect my computer afterwards)... The questions is: how can people coordinate to move en mass. That's what the world needs. How funny would it be if Facebook and MSFT went out of business overnight due to a mass coordinated migration? That'd be frickin' delightful.

@Downes hmm. The big problem, of course, is that they've put all their eggs in the 100% Microsoft basket. That's a fragile monoculture, and due to it being Microsoft, a poorly implemented one. I consider any "Microsoft shops" to be examples of woefully negligent governance. (you've probably seen it, but I explain why here: https://davelane.nz/mshostage) Many "Microsoft shops" have already rued that decision, but the herd continues to move in the same direction. One day, only the outliers will be left.

Given the plethora of at-least-as-good #libre messaging platforms (see Matrix, Rocket.Chat, Zulip, Mattermost, NextCloud Talk, etc.) that aren't
* exploiting your data,
* pestering you to pay more,
* reducing 'free tier' features (to get you to pay $),
* blocking integrations you want,
* failing to live up to their security promises, or
* simply being painful to use.

Why does *anyone* bother with MS Teams, Salesforce Slack, or Discord? Just doesn't make any sense to me.

Kids repurposing/revitalising old hardware with #libre software (KDE!) for people on modest incomes. https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/local/2024/02/22/rhode-island-teens-are-fixing-junked-computers-and-learning-valuable-tech-skills/72340312007/ We should see this sort of programme at every secondary & tertiary institution. It's a huge learning opportunity for all involved, and great for the planet, too!

"Public agencies were increasingly being encouraged, even ordered, to buy standardised, non-customised IT systems to save money."

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/516853/waka-kotahi-pays-pwc-to-meld-together-technologies-then-again-to-pull-them-apart

They don't mean *open* standards (see https://openstandards.nz). They mean proprietary *non*standards & gov't procurement gets screwed by this. Every. Single. Time. 'Commercial-off-the-shelf' is the siren's song these vendors use to bamboozle gov't into spending way more than budgeted. Every. Time. This stuff isn't hard people.

In other news, the 4 'Big Consulting' firms will *always* find - after heaps of expensive 'investigation' - that 'Big Tech' solutions are the way to go... because they both feed off each other. They pass contracts back and forth, to the taxpayer's detriment. Every. Single. Time. Get both out of gov't and we'll have better systems and save $billions each year.

After driving our EV (& 32 yo manual ICE car) for the past 6months, here's some unsolicited advice to auto mechanics: if you're not already actively train(ed|ing) to work on EVs & auto electronics, down tools & run - don't walk - to enroll in a course. The market for EV mechanics is burgeoning somethin' crazy & that for ICEs is contracting. You can be in the right place at the right time.

It's not very useful to tell someone you think the work they do is making the planet & society worse. But a lot of the time that's how I feel.

For example: I meet someone & find out they're 'in IT'... turns out they train or support people using Windows/Apple products. I find it hard to disguise my lack of enthusiasm for their work. The way I see it, they're helping people develop a perceived dependence on & entitlement to proprietary software often accompanied by a disdain for things they don't understand. It's like teaching someone to drive a petrol car & implicitly denigrating use of public transportation.

@codewiz Stallman, of course, is quite right. And, as we all know, naming things is both very hard and very important. 'AI' is an empty marketing term.

@BrideOfLinux just one more great reason to never use a Microsoft product. I haven't, since 1994, and have no regrets.

@theorytoe I moved there 30 years ago because it was, by my reckoning at the time, a better society (on balance) with a better trajectory than what I thought saw developing in the US at the time. The intervening time has not dissuaded me from that impression.

@burner @theorytoe heh. I'd pick NZ again over the US, in a heartbeat.

@burner @theorytoe compared to the US, it's a progressive, compassionate, and socialist society, where the common good outweighs private interests (relative to the US). It's becoming ever more diverse and non-european, with many new and rich cultural influences, and that suits me well.

I lurk on an NZ-based school IT manager email list. It's fascinating to watch these poor folks wrestle every day with the proprietary rubbish they've had foisted upon them - it's all they know, actually - complaining about vendor policy & pricing changes, bad support, EOL'd systems, byzantine licensing headaches, proprietary non-standards compatibility issues, and the lack of capabilities & money to afford stuff they need. They're trying their best, but the school IT status quo is totes broken.

@screwtape
if you're referring to Benjamin Mako Hill with mako.cc, I have a lot of time for him and his work. Not sure of the DFF - I've lost confidence in the EFF (I used to support them, but no longer do). Not sure what you mean by SFD (Software Freedom Day?)...
@strypey @jeremy_list @rik @clacke @bobjonkman @jxself

@rimu yes! Please use fyi.org.nz - it also means that others can follow what you're doing and even lend a hand in putting the heat on gov't depts who are (often) laggard. @SimonCHulse @phil_stevens

@randulo yes, 'free' proprietary software, as in 'lock you in and upsell you later', is a common tactic & involves a LOT of up-front investment, funded by Venture Capitalists... Here's why that's a false economy: https://davelane.nz/why-free-proprietary-software-will-always-end-tears

@randulo if it's proprietary, the price will go up or the quality down (or the software will go away entirely). Only libre software won't screw you eventually. If you're not familiar with Doctorow's recently described 'enshittification cycle', it's most illustrative.