@stefano
This is completely legal as long as you didn't literally steal their source code from their repositories. It's a beautiful thing because it breaks corporate monopolies, but it can also hurt independent developers and emerging startups.

#AI #OpenSource #TechPolicy #Copyright

@stefano This is the problem when engineers have been given the keys to the castle..

Engineers only think about what a technology DOES, not about to WHO does it do it for.

And these new engineer-kings have reduced any sense of morality to game-theoretic utilitarian equations, for which they hold a religious creed.

But being engineers, they never see their humanity, not one bit. And their models don’t count it in you or me either.

@stefano

Would love a non-AI "clone" of Adobe's suite from before they moved to a subscription model.

Our (small) non-profit has to maintain an air-gapped Win 8.1 box so we can still run the suite of #Adobe software we purchased in 2008 or so. (Installed with DVDs!)

It was only ~$120 to buy a generous Adobe suite as a registered #charity. We have tons of content we'd created and occasionally update images / video / audio -- but must keep the unsupported computer offline.

Adobe's "discount" program is considerably less charitable since they've moved to SAAS. (Not interested + not affordable.)

🤤 Satisfying to watch #bigTech eat itself.

@stefano I am Muthumari from Tamil Nadu. After my small business revenue dropped, I fell into debt and made mistakes that I have now completely overcome. Today, I am in a severe financial crisis and urgently need support for my son's medical needs and basic family survival.
I fully understand online fraud makes it hard to trust strangers, but my situation is genuine. Any advice, guidance, or financial aid would mean the world to me.
#MutualAid #HelpNeeded #Crowdfunding #EmergencyHelp

@stefano
Boosted this, but just a thought: What have sharks ever done to you? They're ancient and endangered! CEO would be a better slur to use, IMO.

@stefano This is the situation when the ice cream is licking back. 😆

@stefano If large firms try to use Generative AI to hollow out worker's rights, then of course that needs to be opposed. But maybe we here have a case in which GenAI can be used to humble a rent-seeking monopoly (primarily Adobe); then I see no reason to object to it.

(Provided that the executables are not malicious. In the Snap repository, ArtCraft etc are offered as sandboxed programs, seem to work as intended, and require no AI for operation.)

(I'm sticking to Libre for everyday use.)

@stefano so we should actually ask AI to design GPUs for us ?

@stefano I'm not inclined to use any of these "cloned" products, and I don't think they balance out the harms of the technology, but I do enjoy seeing generative AI used against its creators 😏

@stefano Well I'd still feel bad for all the LibreOffice and OnlyOffice and Collabora and Co. devs if people just started migrating to a soulless AI clone of Word whose generation was only possible because being trained on the public code of Libre & Co.

@stefano you’re talking about LibreOffice, right? 🤭

@stefano, AI and robotics will not clone only Word but also the majority of workers. So we had to change our economic model, because there will be no many jobs left in the future. This will be mandatory.

From a technological point of view I'm very optimistic: automation, green energy, durable goods, etc...

From a social point of view, I have many more concerns because power corrupts, and as you noted, our ethic is far from optimal :-/

EDIT: and I am also frightened by the chaos of the intermediate period