<![CDATA[Democratising software development inherently means that people are going to develop software in ways you don't like and which seem objectively wrong and welp that's also the argument people made against Linux so, it;s impossible to say if its bad or not]]>Democratising software development inherently means that people are going to develop software in ways you don't like and which seem objectively wrong and welp that's also the argument people made against Linux so, it;s impossible to say if its bad or not

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/topic/39b5a597-5936-425d-9ada-51edab3ae357/democratising-software-development-inherently-means-that-people-are-going-to-develop-software-in-ways-you-don-t-like-and-which-seem-objectively-wrong-and-welp-that-s-also-the-argument-people-made-against-linux-so-it-s-impossible-to-say-if-its-bad-or-notRSS for NodeFri, 17 Apr 2026 12:52:30 GMTThu, 02 Apr 2026 08:01:23 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Democratising software development inherently means that people are going to develop software in ways you don't like and which seem objectively wrong and welp that's also the argument people made against Linux so, it;s impossible to say if its bad or not on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 09:28:58 GMT]]>@koen_hufkens I, uh, were you there?

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://nondeterministic.computer/users/mjg59/statuses/116334404484044780https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://nondeterministic.computer/users/mjg59/statuses/116334404484044780Thu, 02 Apr 2026 09:28:58 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Democratising software development inherently means that people are going to develop software in ways you don't like and which seem objectively wrong and welp that's also the argument people made against Linux so, it;s impossible to say if its bad or not on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 09:27:44 GMT]]>@mjg59 In all those instances there were strong gatekeepers (for better or worse) and little in ways of "flooding the zone". I argue that "this" is not that.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/koen_hufkens/statuses/116334399646402770https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/koen_hufkens/statuses/116334399646402770Thu, 02 Apr 2026 09:27:44 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Democratising software development inherently means that people are going to develop software in ways you don't like and which seem objectively wrong and welp that's also the argument people made against Linux so, it;s impossible to say if its bad or not on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 09:22:29 GMT]]>@koen_hufkens WebTV granted more people access to Usenet, Usenet norms changed. Ubuntu granted more people access to a functioning Linux desktop, support norms changed. This keeps happening. Every time it happens, people complain about the status quo being disrupted. This kind of disruption is the historical norm.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://nondeterministic.computer/users/mjg59/statuses/116334378961526652https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://nondeterministic.computer/users/mjg59/statuses/116334378961526652Thu, 02 Apr 2026 09:22:29 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Democratising software development inherently means that people are going to develop software in ways you don't like and which seem objectively wrong and welp that's also the argument people made against Linux so, it;s impossible to say if its bad or not on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 09:16:22 GMT]]>@koen_hufkens That does not match my experience of helping maintain a Linux distribution for the past 25 years in the slightest

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://nondeterministic.computer/users/mjg59/statuses/116334354940065158https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://nondeterministic.computer/users/mjg59/statuses/116334354940065158Thu, 02 Apr 2026 09:16:22 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Democratising software development inherently means that people are going to develop software in ways you don't like and which seem objectively wrong and welp that's also the argument people made against Linux so, it;s impossible to say if its bad or not on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 09:12:52 GMT]]>@mjg59 Baseless inflation of skill is not democratization. In the past people would lurk in forums, or track projects from the sideline, until they were comfortable with some aspects of it - and showed this process. Then they would step in. Now anyone with 5min with Claude thinks that a contribution is valid.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/koen_hufkens/statuses/116334341154072579https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/koen_hufkens/statuses/116334341154072579Thu, 02 Apr 2026 09:12:52 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Democratising software development inherently means that people are going to develop software in ways you don't like and which seem objectively wrong and welp that's also the argument people made against Linux so, it;s impossible to say if its bad or not on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:37:15 GMT]]>@rytmis @mjg59 I understand it to mean "charging a monthly fee".

For example, when Elon Musk "democratized" blue check marks on X, he gutted their functionality and made everyone pay for them.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/barubary/statuses/116334201130698745https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/barubary/statuses/116334201130698745Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:37:15 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Democratising software development inherently means that people are going to develop software in ways you don't like and which seem objectively wrong and welp that's also the argument people made against Linux so, it;s impossible to say if its bad or not on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:32:52 GMT]]>This isn't me saying that what's happening is good, it's me saying that we've had decades of trying to force new people into existing norms and the trend is that it doesn't work and what's our answer to that going to be

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://nondeterministic.computer/users/mjg59/statuses/116334183865676470https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://nondeterministic.computer/users/mjg59/statuses/116334183865676470Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:32:52 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Democratising software development inherently means that people are going to develop software in ways you don't like and which seem objectively wrong and welp that's also the argument people made against Linux so, it;s impossible to say if its bad or not on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:32:35 GMT]]>@fog @mjg59
Where is the 'I like it' button? 😀

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://floss.social/users/gisgeek/statuses/116334182770704812https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://floss.social/users/gisgeek/statuses/116334182770704812Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:32:35 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Democratising software development inherently means that people are going to develop software in ways you don't like and which seem objectively wrong and welp that's also the argument people made against Linux so, it;s impossible to say if its bad or not on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:30:59 GMT]]>@gisgeek @mjg59 this is true for every f**ing tool ever, from the C compiler to the chainsaw. The problem is when people don't see (and use) the tool as a tool but as something that it is not. LLM agents just have a very high probability of being mistaken for something else.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://fosstodon.org/users/fog/statuses/116334176483265163https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://fosstodon.org/users/fog/statuses/116334176483265163Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:30:59 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Democratising software development inherently means that people are going to develop software in ways you don't like and which seem objectively wrong and welp that's also the argument people made against Linux so, it;s impossible to say if its bad or not on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:27:10 GMT]]>@tef But it's both? A huge amount of this bullshit is people automating making my life miserable, but some of it is someone has a genuine problem and they want to fix it and the machine gave them a solution and it worked and now they want to share that solution with other people

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://nondeterministic.computer/users/mjg59/statuses/116334161468618011https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://nondeterministic.computer/users/mjg59/statuses/116334161468618011Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:27:10 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Democratising software development inherently means that people are going to develop software in ways you don't like and which seem objectively wrong and welp that's also the argument people made against Linux so, it;s impossible to say if its bad or not on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:24:43 GMT]]>@mjg59 as i understand it, "endless hacktober" is more apt

endless september was about new people not learning the rules

endless hacktover is about people doing extractive work

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/tef/statuses/116334151847644188https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/tef/statuses/116334151847644188Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:24:43 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Democratising software development inherently means that people are going to develop software in ways you don't like and which seem objectively wrong and welp that's also the argument people made against Linux so, it;s impossible to say if its bad or not on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:20:12 GMT]]>All I'm actually saying here is that (waves broadly) a lot more people who have never opened a PR or maintained a project being in a position to either open a PR or maintaining a project is going to result in them not behaving within the social norms we've developed as a group that is, to be fair, far less insular than in the 90s but is still somewhat insular compared to society as a whole and yes we are going to have to get used to the equivalent of HTML mail and top posting

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://nondeterministic.computer/users/mjg59/statuses/116334134082502494https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://nondeterministic.computer/users/mjg59/statuses/116334134082502494Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:20:12 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Democratising software development inherently means that people are going to develop software in ways you don't like and which seem objectively wrong and welp that's also the argument people made against Linux so, it;s impossible to say if its bad or not on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:18:54 GMT]]>@mjg59
Another well-known past 'democratization' of programming has been the spreadsheet with its macro system. In the 80s, it changed how many professionals manage data.
Spreadsheets had similar results: a lot of slop, with confusion between data and computation, but even some good results when used with a grain of salt. Was that good or bad? It depends on who judges that, and it varies from case to case.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://floss.social/users/gisgeek/statuses/116334128975761045https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://floss.social/users/gisgeek/statuses/116334128975761045Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:18:54 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Democratising software development inherently means that people are going to develop software in ways you don't like and which seem objectively wrong and welp that's also the argument people made against Linux so, it;s impossible to say if its bad or not on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:17:40 GMT]]>@rytmis Lowering the barrier to entry generally results in an influx of people who don't care about the existing ingrained norms and that's true whether that reduction is LLMs or any other increased ability to access a space

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://nondeterministic.computer/users/mjg59/statuses/116334124123239733https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://nondeterministic.computer/users/mjg59/statuses/116334124123239733Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:17:40 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Democratising software development inherently means that people are going to develop software in ways you don't like and which seem objectively wrong and welp that's also the argument people made against Linux so, it;s impossible to say if its bad or not on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:15:34 GMT]]>@tef I don't inherently disagree and also was eternal September the collapse of a utopia or the demolition of ivory towers

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://nondeterministic.computer/users/mjg59/statuses/116334115824483278https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://nondeterministic.computer/users/mjg59/statuses/116334115824483278Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:15:34 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Democratising software development inherently means that people are going to develop software in ways you don't like and which seem objectively wrong and welp that's also the argument people made against Linux so, it;s impossible to say if its bad or not on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:14:21 GMT]]>@mjg59 What does ”democratizing” mean here, if I may ask?

My first guess would be an allusion to LLMs, but it’s hard to be sure. The way I usually interpret the word is something akin to ”lowering the barrier to entry”.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/rytmis/statuses/116334111050680562https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/rytmis/statuses/116334111050680562Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:14:21 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Democratising software development inherently means that people are going to develop software in ways you don't like and which seem objectively wrong and welp that's also the argument people made against Linux so, it;s impossible to say if its bad or not on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:14:01 GMT]]>@mjg59 Is it really democratising when the whole world rapidly ends up depending on ~3 companies?

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.me.uk/users/hylomorphism/statuses/116334109736646549https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.me.uk/users/hylomorphism/statuses/116334109736646549Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:14:01 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Democratising software development inherently means that people are going to develop software in ways you don't like and which seem objectively wrong and welp that's also the argument people made against Linux so, it;s impossible to say if its bad or not on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:12:12 GMT]]>@mjg59 i feel like "outsourcing the work to the lowest bidder" isn't really a democratic force at work

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/tef/statuses/116334102613140288https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/tef/statuses/116334102613140288Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:12:12 GMT