Every week veteran KDE contributor Kevin Ottens posts a bunch of thought-provoking links on his blog, and last week’s post contained one that I found particularly enlightening: 40 years of pr…
Literal politics. Rarbg had project members volunteer to fight in the Russia-Ukraine war… For both the side of Russia, and the side of Ukraine
Drama. Contributing takes a lot of time and effort. People get attached to their ideas and contributions. When people start drifting apart and fighting, third parties have to play politics to keep people happy and working towards a common goal
Those are only secondary politics in software development. You missed the primary politics of software - the power struggle expressed through code itself. It comes in many forms. But perhaps the most obvious one is the attempt by software corporates to wrestle control and freedom away from the user using DRM, Trusted computing, locked down devices, dark patterns, etc and relegate the user to the status of a renter.
2 things:
Literal politics. Rarbg had project members volunteer to fight in the Russia-Ukraine war… For both the side of Russia, and the side of Ukraine
Drama. Contributing takes a lot of time and effort. People get attached to their ideas and contributions. When people start drifting apart and fighting, third parties have to play politics to keep people happy and working towards a common goal
Those are only secondary politics in software development. You missed the primary politics of software - the power struggle expressed through code itself. It comes in many forms. But perhaps the most obvious one is the attempt by software corporates to wrestle control and freedom away from the user using DRM, Trusted computing, locked down devices, dark patterns, etc and relegate the user to the status of a renter.