It’s kind of ironic to me that Linux is all for free and open source, but still uses a proprietary platform, and a horrible one at that. Before the fediverse, I’d understand, but now, there is no excuse whatsoever.
I understand that we can’t just get up and leave everything proprietary behind all at once, since we have iPhones and Android phones. We all use proprietary software of some form, but I am of the mindset of using the least amount of proprietary possible.
I will ALWAYS look for FOSS first. I also want to make it as hard as possible for any corporation to track me. They’ll probably still be able to track me, but I’m not going without a fight.
I could say the same about the Linux kernel using GitHub, but I understand how massive of an undertaking it would be to move the whole kernel to another platform. I’m sure there are other factors, too. Anyway, I just wanted to start a discussion and hear people’s thoughts.
Thank you
Linux is ubiquitous, it’s everywhere, even on Reddit, even under your bed
If you have a Smart BedTM, Linux might even be in your bed.
Also it was on the Mars with the Ingenuity.
The kernel on GitHub is just a mirror - the primary source is on kernel.org
Yeah… would have taken OP 10 seconds to check that. Dumb.
Torvalds wrote git for the Linux kernel, and then GitHub popped up because most other projects couldn’t handle the decentralization. Interestingly to OP’s frustration, they were using a proprietary VCS before that, and people were just as frustrated about that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Git#History
How should we know? Ask them, not us.
But Lemmy users are obviously smarter, so it’s better to ask them.
Linux isnt only for Foss enjoyers. Plus its good to have the linux community on reddit to help people bring attention to linux. If they move it here it will be even harder to join the community.
You are not wrong. But there are things you can do to make a point. Make Reddit as a 2nd class citizen and drive people to lemmy, mastodon and the others. Like add posts with no comments, just relay bot, … Make it clear.
Same with GitHub, it’s mirror to my Gitea instance. You can see stuff but you have to move somewhere else to contribute and report issues. Not a terrible thing to use these proprietary services and yet make them 2nd class citizens.
It could be worse. At least they didn’t move to discord or facebook.
Discord is ok, it hosts many open source projects and can be bridged to matrix https://gitdab.com/cadence/out-of-your-element
You can’t find anything on discord with a web search. You can’t even open it without logging in. Once you’re logged in, good luck finding an answer to a problem that was posted a year or two ago. That’s much worse than reddit.
Are you aware of any project that maintains a good bridge to Matrix? Because I’m in like 80 discord servers and not one of them has a high quality bridge
I came here to say at least it’s not discord then I saw your comment. Yes, there s mattermost, matrix, IRC, … I am not installing Discord, I am not opening an account. I mean what s next? host your community in Skype?
- Not everyone that uses Linux is against proprietary software or only uses FOSS.
- There are people that just heard of Linux, are just trying it out, or have an issue, and already use Reddit, or is what the search engine points them to go for help, or to ask questions.
- Reddit has a lot more reach for the common people than any other platform at the moment, there are still people that prefer to ask on Reddit, than go to a specific forum or another platform to ask (If I remember right, it still happens with some apps like Jellyfin that moved out of Reddit, but people still ask there)
These are just a few of the reasons that come to my mind.
Also institutional inertia is difficult to overcome in general.
This is so weird to me. Maybe it’s about who you are, or who you run with, but when I saw that Discord was about to go that way, I messaged my Pathfinder group and every single person there immediately hit me back with, “so where to next?”
That’s what, five people?
It’s a lot different when it’s thousands and thousands
That’s why I said it might have something to do with who you’re around.
As an example I’m on Linux for a decade now but I also use proprietary services. I use Jellyfin and Netflix, Vim and Jetbrains IDEs, Chess.com instead of Lichess, WhatsApp instead of Matrix.
Sometimes the value proposition does it for me, sometimes it’s the network effect. I’ve ditched reddit because I like Lemmy more but I can see how someone wants to stay in touch with their niche communities that don’t really exist on Lemmy. Probably some people use both.
How comes that Vim is proprietary? Jetbrain offers community versions which are afaik open source too, so you can look at the source code, you do not need to pay or agree to an EULA.
It helps keep the more caustic linuxers away from lemmy.
The call is coming from inside the house
Correct we only want the sour linuxers here.
My experience has been the opposite. People are nicer here.
You are right, it’s not very often I see fights here.
Regarding migration to Lemmy, I think it will happen originally and in a few years the majority of questions will be asked here.
because lemmy is bad
How so?
A few things,
- I often find the federation to just drop posts or comments,
- sometimes a post has been banned and doesn’t even report being banned on other servers,
- federation itself can be rather slow in many cases, and specific servers are even slower, you replied to this 10hrs ago according to lemmy, but I only got a notification 5 minutes ago despite using it off and on throughout the day.
- you can have the exact same community name but on a multitude of different servers which can become complicated.
- there is no button I can click to open the post on my server, which means if someone sends me a link and I want to engage with it, it’s a massive hassle to do so.
there are other issues I have but these are the ones off the top of my head. It’s simply a far inferior experience to reddit.
Understandable. I personally don’t really care that much to make a list about the flaws of a social media site (no judgement of course). I just coast along for a little bit and go back to reading my books.
There’s two reasons why r/linux is popular on Reddit:
- Reddit is popular
- r/linux is popular
It would definitely be nicer to see the Linux community grow here.
But hey. I’m on Linux and I’m here with y’all. :)
Tell me what distro you are using and I tell you if you have to go back to reddit or not.
Well they’re clearly not using Arch. Btw.
Think of it as an advertisement or a road sign. You want your message to reach as many people as possible.
Normies don’t usually find their way to Linux on their own. Hell, most don’t even know a third and fourth option (BSD) exists. By being on as many platforms as possible, more will find their way.
For what it’s worth, GitHub is NOT the place where kernel development takes place, that is just a mirror. Have a look here to see where development happens.
Third option? Solus? Minix? What is the third option!!???! Why don’t I know about the mysterious third option?!!!?
Linux is the third option. As far as many normies are concerned the second option is macOS
Damn, that just goes to show how indoctrinated I am. Didn’t even occur to me that there’s two mainstream OSs outside of Linux out there.
Why should it leave? It’s good to be omnipresent! You have another linux community here and in many other places.
Many of them are single-issue Linux users and don’t concern themselves with FOSS philosophy
Because Lemmy is quite silent relatively. It’s a hard sell outside of those who enjoy selfhosting.
The mods there were crap back in the day. Keep them on reddit.
