Steven Savage

@StevenSavage
25 Followers
145 Following
2.3K Posts
Writer, Project Manager, Agilist.
Linktr.eehttps://linktr.ee/thestevensavage
Interests#agile #bayarea #news #philosophy #politics #projects #sanjose #writing
Steven SavageJun 20, 2023
Andrew Tate, who became a hero to the right wing, is now on trial for some serious stuff. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/06/20/andrew-tate-indicted-rape-human-trafficking/
Andrew Tate, brother indicted on charges of rape, human trafficking

Andrew Tate, a self-described misogynist, was accused with brother Tristan of forming a group for human trafficking. Prosecutors referred the case for trial.

The Washington Post
Steven SavageJun 20, 2023
René FouquetJun 19, 2023
“Quiet quitting” is so idiotic. It’s based around the idea that doing the amount of work as contractually obligated is somehow “quitting”, as if there is an unspoken obligation to go above and beyond that. For free, of course. Well there isn’t. And only working the amount of time you’re paid for is not disloyal or lazy, it’s simply holding up your end of the bargain. “Quiet quitting” should be the norm, not the exception. Everyone should do it. But stop calling it quitting.
Steven SavageJun 19, 2023
Chris TrottierJun 19, 2023
Many people are asking me, "How will #ActivityPub ultimately be #Meta's own undoing?"

Meta's current business model is not built for an open protocol like ActivityPub. It's very much dependent on them owning and controlling the network effect of services like Facebook and Instagram.

Not only does Meta want to collect all your personal data -- they want to control it too. They enforce this control through proprietary APIs. In this sense, they're not different from Twitter and Reddit.

The point of ActivityPub is that services, such as #Mastodon, #Kbin, and #Calckey, can depend on an open protocol instead of a proprietary API.

What if I, the admin of calckey.social, don't like what a dev is doing? Well, too bad. The protocol is open. I might be able to twiddle with my own server, but I can't do jack with anyone else's.

And what if I'm a greedy asshole who wants to monetize the user data on my server? Too bad for me, everyone on my server can migrate elsewhere.

This is not how Meta does business. In almost all ways, ActivityPub is counter to their business. Yet, here they are -- wanting to join the Fediverse.

The tech industry is awash in stories of big corporations that own proprietary tech that become undone by open standards.

Remember IBM's dominance of PCs? It was undone by the EISA standard.

Remember Novell's dominance of networking? It was undone by the bundling of TCP/IP in operating systems.

Remember AOL's dominance of online services? It was undone by the World Wide Web.

ActivityPub is yet another standard that pierces the opaque walled gardens that largely depend on proprietary technology owned by one company. And Meta happens to be one company that owns an opaque walled garden.

If history is to be repeated -- and usually it's worth learning from history -- then Meta opening the door to ActivityPub is company suicide. It's the first domino to fall before everything else in their catalogue of walled gardens also falls. Contrary to popular opinion, creating an ActivityPub enabled social network does not "kill" ActivityPub -- it validates it.

As it happens, I've known quite a few people who work at Meta. I have a little insight into what they're thinking.

Most folks at Meta know very well that Facebook will eventually die. But not just Facebook, Instagram too. Social networks, by their nature, are generational and transient. They have a shelf life.

Meta very much wants to build the app that kills Facebook and Instagram.

They have to build it because they can't acquire competition. That will raise the ire of regulators.

Likewise, Meta have already tried to leverage their own proprietary APIs to build compelling platforms. We've already seen this with the likes of Portal and Oculus.

What's apparent is that, even for a Big Social company like Meta, it is extremely hard to build a network effect from scratch. Sure, billions of people use Facebook and Instagram, but it was a whole lot of work for Meta to do that themselves.

And what was the end result of building Facebook and Instagram's network effect? More regulation by governments.

Thus, ActivityPub gives Meta two things it craves: the ability to piggyback on the network effect of an open protocol, and the ability to head off regulators by saying, "Hey, we don't own this protocol -- we're no different from Mastodon and Calckey."

Again, open protocols usually mean the demise of big corporations who leverage success through proprietary APIs. And ActivityPub will be no different.

Meta joining the Fediverse means that Automattic was right to build ActivityPub plugin for WordPress. It also means competitors, such as Apple and Microsoft, should probably start investing in ActivityPub.

What else does it mean? That small developers should start building apps that appeal to people who use Meta services. They should build these apps based on garden-variety ActivityPub -- because Meta can't own or control ActivityPub.

The first domino has dropped 😉
Steven SavageJun 19, 2023
Aral BalkanJun 19, 2023

Some fediverse instance admins: “How cool, Meta invited us to the adult table.”

Yes, they did.

Because you’re what’s for dinner.

#fediverse #mastodon #meta #Project92 #BigTech #SiliconValley #SurveillanceCapitalism

Steven SavageJun 17, 2023
Xenofact (he/him)Jun 17, 2023

So people worked hard to build community, create culture, and make a space for everyone. Then a bunch of spoiled white guys came in and tried to figure out how to make money off of that.

Reddit and Twitter are just history repeating itself.

Steven SavageJun 17, 2023
Leigh HoneywellJun 16, 2023
I think we can all agree that if Reddit’s recent bullshit ends up meaning people go back to running old school forums it’ll be the absolute funniest possible outcome
Steven SavageJun 17, 2023
Stephen Hackett Jun 16, 2023

There it is:

> (Steve) Huffman said he saw Musk’s handling of Twitter, which Musk purchased last year, as an example for Reddit to follow.
>
> “Long story short, my takeaway from Twitter and Elon at Twitter is reaffirming that we can build a really good business in this space at our scale,” Huffman said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/reddit-blackout-protest-private-ceo-elon-musk-huffman-rcna89700

Reddit CEO praises Elon Musk as protests rock platform

Twitter owner Elon Musk may have had an influence on Reddit’s CEO ahead of changes to the website that have resulted in a user-led rebellion on the platform.

NBC News
Steven SavageJun 16, 2023
Show threadAlice Averlong🏳️‍⚧️Jun 16, 2023
it just generates 1.4gb of logs booting up to the title screen. that's fine.
Steven SavageJun 16, 2023
Dr. Curiosity 💻🔬Jun 16, 2023
Steven SavageJun 15, 2023
Show threadewen_cluney.txtJun 15, 2023
I keep telling myself that “productivity is better than paralysis,” though I need my anxiety to calm down a bit more before I can really put that into practice.