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I've seen many threads suggesting products but they often don't mention FOSS projects, which should always be preferred to corporate software. With FOSS you are already boycotting capitalism, on either side. Free and Open Source ignores borders and shouldn't be categorized in nationalist terms, no matter where some of the maintainers happen to live.

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[-] giacomo@lemm.ee 101 points 2 months ago

lol who is suggesting boycotting foss projects?

[-] Engywuck@lemm.ee 42 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I think OP means that one shouldn't boycott FOSS projects just because they are from USA. That said, I don't like to be told what I have to do and don't agree to "FOSS projects, which should always be preferred to corporate software". My pc, my LAN, my rules.

[-] grue@lemmy.world 54 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I don’t like to be told what I have to do and don’t agree to “FOSS projects, which should always be preferred to corporate software”. My pc, my LAN, my rules.

...he said, without a hint of irony.

Meanwhile, "my PC, my LAN, my rules" is precisely the reason I do agree with always preferring FOSS to corporate software.

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[-] uridl@feddit.org 14 points 2 months ago

Almost all the lists shared in the communities exclude FOSS projects.

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[-] HiddenLayer555@lemmy.ml 91 points 2 months ago

FOSS is not American. Foss belongs to literally everyone.

[-] Ilgaz@lemm.ee 13 points 2 months ago

I kept saying it all over the place regarding the fascistic rejection of Russian (as in race) code and got flamed as result. These people use FOSS, especially GNU/GPL software and yet they have no clue about the license themselves.

[-] Kusimulkku@lemm.ee 12 points 2 months ago

Weren't Russian contributors (from very specific sanctioned companies) rejected from contributing because of US sanction laws and with Linux Foundation being HQ'd in the US?

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[-] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 87 points 2 months ago

Free software is the antithesis of capitalism. It doesn't make sense to boycott them.

[-] Irelephant@lemm.ee 67 points 2 months ago

Seeing people look for corporate social media alternatives is painful.

[-] chebra@mstdn.io 53 points 2 months ago

@Irelephant

> "Hey guys, I want to leave X, should I go to Bluesky or Threads? What? Mastodon? Never heard of that. Looks very complicated, I'll pass"
> -- CEO, founder, IT wizz on LinkedIn

Every time!

[-] adbenitez@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 months ago

Or the classic "guys I am leaving WhatsApp, moved my whole family to Signal, another centralized US-based silo that requires phone numbers and runs on AWS, CloudFlare, etc."

[-] qpsLCV5@lemmy.ml 9 points 2 months ago

i mean.. it is massively better, but yes it still sucks. but what do you move friends and family to? last i looked into element it was not an option for several reasons, and i don't think anyone would switch to basically noname apps like simplex or similar, even if they might be decent solutions. i really want the last few contacts i have on whatsapp to move, but i'm not gonna push hard to get them to use signal just to get it enshittified in the near future. also a few switched to telegram, which while not facebook, is not really better mainly because it doesn't even e2ee by default.

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[-] thericofactor@sh.itjust.works 64 points 2 months ago

From a purely "vote with your wallet" standpoint it doesn't make sense, because there's no money paid. However, one might worry about data/information getting in the hands of a fascist/compromised government. So I think people should judge this themselves case by case.

[-] otter@lemmy.ca 31 points 2 months ago

I think the important part is about who is running the server, rather than who made the software

The fediverse is interesting in that context because each instance can decide where they set up the infrastructure or how they process data / requests. The same applies to self hosting

I saw an article that outlined which country each fediverse platform "originated" from, such as Canada for Pixelfed and Germany for Mastodon. That's fun to know about, but otherwise not important to users compared to the instances themselves

At most it might speak to which laws will govern the project itself, but even then someone can fork a project that goes astray

[-] enemenemu@lemm.ee 12 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

People should pay for foss. Donations are oftentimes welcome

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[-] frightful_hobgoblin@lemmy.ml 53 points 2 months ago

I'm the most anti-American user on here and I agree.

I'd rather use USA-linked free software than Spotify.

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[-] not3ottersinacoat@lemmy.ca 42 points 2 months ago

Counterpoint: Fedora is a testing bed for Red Hat. One of Red Hat's notable customers is the US military. I'd prefer to stay off that path if I can help it. It's a matter of trust, and it's a matter of indirectly contributing. I've seen people say the same things about Deepin and everyone nods in agreement, but why the hell should I trust a US project, for the same reasons?

[-] RushLana@lemmy.blahaj.zone 34 points 2 months ago

Honestly this should be a wake call to the FOSS community that we are way too reliant on the US.

Every default we have is US centric and if FOSS is really meant for everyone we should move away from that.

[-] Shareni@programming.dev 11 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

why the hell should I trust a US project

Bekuz Amerika fridom wurld polis, best kontri in da world!

But on a more serious note, did you know Linus banned those Russian contributors like a month after redhat and DoD signed a new deal. Can you guess who owns RH stocks?

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[-] koncertejo@lemmy.ml 32 points 2 months ago

I always like to say the fruits of FOSS labour are the common heritage of mankind. It belongs to all of us as a public good, created and maintained by selfless workers. (Nevermind the fact that most FOSS projects are based out of Europe anyways).

[-] sith@lemmy.zip 25 points 2 months ago

Totally agree. The majority of Americans are great people. Not everyone is MAGA. We need to support the good ones. Sanctions and boycotts tend to unite.

One exception would be if the project imposse a security risk because key people and servers, within the US, may be blackmailed or pushed by the new administration. We're not there yet though. And I hope these projects and people migrate if this becomes the case.

Also, FOSS projects run by big tech are probably also wise to avoid for strategic reasons.

[-] haverholm@kbin.earth 29 points 2 months ago

The majority of Americans are great people

They're not the majority if they can't win an election — just sayin'.

[-] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 2 months ago

a minority of the population voted for trump though, it's not like 50+% of the total population voted for him, it's 50+% of the voters, a lot of people just didn't vote.

[-] Grippler@feddit.dk 15 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

a lot of people just didn't vote.

So they decided that it was just fine if he won and saw no reason to oppose what he stands for...

Yeah, that's some good people right there I can see that /s

[-] bramkaandorp@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago

Voter ID, gerrymandering, not allowing absentee voting, no day off.

Not everyone was able to vote, and that disproportionately affected Democratic voters.

[-] HumanPenguin@feddit.uk 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

All true. But the world also watched a huge amount of voters rejects dems over gaza. While trump had no better plans on gaxa.

Much like Ukraine his only argument is "i am better and every one else was stupid"

The argument often heard. "Voting the lesser of 2 evils is still voting evil".

So yes these folks very much voted the greater of 2 evils by refusing to vote the lesser option. And much of the rest of the world is rightfully sorta pissed at the evil they allowed in.

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[-] haverholm@kbin.earth 8 points 2 months ago

Fair enough. I'm still smarting from that election result, all the way across the pond.

On the other side, I don't count people as "great" who can't be bothered voting against bigoted authoritarianism. But different strokes, I'm sure.

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[-] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 23 points 2 months ago

Is someone doing that? If it's FOSS it's from the internet.

[-] schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de 23 points 2 months ago

Agree with the main point, though disagree that FOSS is "boycotting capitalism", many for-profit companies contribute to FOSS and FOSS can be used by for-profit companies too, much of today's capitalism runs on FOSS.

The point of free software is that it does not have owners, so what exactly are you "boycotting"?

[-] endofline@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 months ago

Tell it to the Russian Linux devs that foss has no owners :-) Theory and practice are 2 different things

[-] e8d79@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 2 months ago

FOSS doesn't mean that you are entitled to a place at the table or that your contributions have to be accepted. Nothing prevents these Russian devs from continuing to to work on the kernel.

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[-] St0ner@lemmy.wtf 22 points 2 months ago

I've tried to extol the virtues of FOSS for a long time. Not many people even care about it or their privacy, always parroting the adage "If i do nothing wrong what do I need to worry about" without a further thought.

[-] ksp@jlai.lu 21 points 2 months ago

I get it as an European that it means more to me to consume "locally" and to prioritize services that are European-based. But due to the nature of computers and FOSS, borders are redefined and it is more about ideas and politics rather than physical location. However, computers and servers are also physical and submitted to legislations of countries, we cannot ignore laws such as the Patriot act and the power that the American state can have even on FOSS projects.

For me the priority is to use software that match my needs; if I have the choice between an American and an European solution, I'll tend to choose the latter one.

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[-] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 11 points 2 months ago

I would think it depends on the project

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[-] bennieandthez@lemmygrad.ml 10 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

FOSS is definitely not boycotting capitalism, but its still an objectively good thing. I see FOSS work as a way for relatively rich imperial core citizens to give back to the world.

Definitely do not boycott FOSS projects.

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[-] chmod755@feddit.org 9 points 2 months ago
[-] AdrianTheFrog@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

There are some pretty corporate "open core" software companies tho, that's a more grey area

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[-] Petter1@lemm.ee 8 points 2 months ago

Lol, first time I hear that, as European😆 what a stupid movement..

[-] Lauchs@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago

I think you're missing the point a bit.

Both BuyCanadian and BuyEuropean are about supporting their respective economies as they are boycotting America's.

For Canada, we're looking at a recession (brought on by our "ally") so people are trying to help fellow Canadians out as things get rough and people lose jobs.

While I support FOSS and recommend them in threads etc I fully understand why they don't meet all the goals of those movements. (That being said, I think one of the most rocking counter punches would be EU investment in stabilizing Linux enough to make it a feasible alternative to Windows/Apple for casual and corporate users, solid shot to 2 of the magnificent 7.)

[-] skarn@discuss.tchncs.de 13 points 2 months ago

investment in stabilizing Linux enough to make it a feasible alternative

Do you care to elaborate? If I had to write a list of reasons why Linux might not be ready for your average cubicle... Stability wouldn't be one of them.

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this post was submitted on 04 Mar 2025
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