alt Hacker NewsThere's been something lost over time about the philosophy of open source. It appeared at a time when it was becoming apparent that computers represented a new type of technology where you couldn't just "look under the hood". An independent mechanic or machinist could repair a car to spec. A carpenter didn't need original blueprints of the house to create an addition. You could disassemble a typewriter or a sewing machine and with some ordinary skill actually manage to figure out how it worked. With compiled software the bar to understanding by the owner or operator was raised significantly. Open source was about being able to actually work on the thing you owned.
Edit: Note that the original term was Free Software, but there's a long history of politics about why the two are different.
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Indeed. Maybe it's just a function of passed time, but it feels like people surrounded by hustlers - including themselves - look at this and think "what's the hustle behind this?" because they can't imagine anyone doing this for any other reason. I get it, but it's quite sad.
Of course now everything is like that. Partially that's because of computers and software, but there's lots of other technologies that have contributed too.
There's an old tweet I can't find that was something like "We turned away from God when we invented the integrated circuit" that's always really spoken to the luddite in me.