1y ago

Steve Balmer quotes

265 comments

I was just thinking about why many things on Linux are better. Like the install process on Linux is years ahead of windows.
Then it occurred to me that windows only improves things that can make them money. If you need to install windows, then you can deal with the crappy installer.
Linux devs improve the parts they think need to be better. The decisions are not guided by money and can be made without bias.
- Now that you've got the idea apply it to everything in capitalist society. Especially if something is owned by shareholders.
- This realization somehow amazes and depresses me at the same time
- Most people don’t install windows. It comes pre installed on something they bought. Microsoft probably puts more time into automating the process.
  Also, last time I installed windows it was a breeze. I haven’t installed Linux in at least a decade, so I can’t speak for that.
  
  Try installing debian some time, the installer makes windows' installer feel like its for a piece of software you got of a sketchy site that wants to install 16 other things not even related to it
- Sounds like the decisions about what to make, how to make it and for whom to make it are done by the people doing the work. 🤔🫢
- Linux devs improve the parts they think need to be better. The decisions are not guided by money and can be made without bias.
  Sounds pretty communist
- The install process on windows is clicking a few buttons.
  For the vast majority of users it's a way better experience.
  
  From my experience(installing windows 10, 11, linux mint and nobara), installing linux is way easier than installing windows
  
  The install process on windows is clicking a few buttons.
  That's the default tracking experience, if you fall for all the dark patterns. Was a while ago, hunh?

Anyone know how I can program Anarchism?
- Allow all code merges automatically
  
  Anarchy is not absence of rules, it's absence of hierarchy. So you could still collectively agree to certain rules for merges.
- Open a GitHub repo with a hello world script and accept each and every commit
- work on decentralized technology like lemmy
- The same way, generally. Work on decentralized, open source software. It's modern Mutual Aid.
- dd if=/dev/random of=anarchism bs=1024 count=1024;chmod 755 anarchism;./anarchism
  
  Holy hell, I need to try this in a vm sometime!
- Open a git repo.
- Anarchists are just people who think Stalinism is communism and haven't read Marx yet

Microsoft loves open source nowadays.
People do a huge amount of their work for free.
They're also heavily invested in Linux for the cloud. So any work done there helps them.
- With Microsoft, any love shown could well be the Embrace part of the strategy that will lead to Extend and then Extinguish just as soon as they can figure those parts out. They might already have a plan.
  The fact they've been able to turn things to their advantage so far does not mean they don't have such a plan. Or won't ever have one.
  
  Seems unlikely with how they work now. You also can't really extinguish foss.
  .Net is cross platform and open source as well now.
  Maybe if Linux becomes a competitor in the desktop market. But I don't see that happening any time soon.
- Steve Balmer wasn't as keen on it...

Ah, the late 1900s when you could still pretend that Apple was the choice of the counterculture for no credible reason except for Apple marketing. Slacktivism, my dude. Worthless.
This meme is truly ancient. I bet those little iMacs go for a pretty penny on eBay now after everyone tossed them in the garbage circa 2003.

On an old coloured plastic iMac too.
- Those things were so hideous… and I actually thought they were cool at the time… well. Except OS9 sucked balls.
  The power mac versions with the pull-to-open side were cooler. Mostly because there was a space above the PSU had just enough space to accommodate a tub of cottage cheese.
  Pop it in on a Friday…. You’d be having class…. Elsewhere on Monday…
- Herecy
  
  Heresy
  
  Heracles

Holy shit, this is an old old meme. This image has got to be at least 25 years old
- it's a parody of this poster from early 2000s
  
  You wouldn't download the means of production!
  
  Of course tankie-shaming is something the RIAA would do to deter piracy....
- I'm pretty sure if I dug into my backup-of a backup-of a backup-of a backup to get to my old files from the 00s I'd find this there. I might have even ironically had this picture on my Zune.

I know, isn't it great?
- You jest. But no, communism is horrible.
  
  Like capitalism isn't also horrible?
  
  You know that communism isn't the same thing as stalinism at all right?
  
  Was fine for the smurfs
  
  You've obviously never read anything about communism or socialism.
  
  Na, humans are just really good at making other living beings suffer, no matter the system. Communism is certainly not a pleasant system to imagine, however it is not inherently worse or better than others that we know.
  
  Optional communalism I say, when you learn to cook, clean, or use a toilet, that's communalism, you didn't teach yourself and you didn't pay by wiping your own arse.

When the program is free, it's socialism. The more free the program is, the more socialism it is. When the source is free, it's communism.
- Ironically, the freer the source, the less communism.
  GPL: our source is free and yours must be too.
  BSD/MIT: our source is free and you can't blame us.
  Public domain: do whatever the hell you want.

A reminder from Microsoft... While he's using a Mac?
- But the dude is programming with the Communist devil so he is the one doing the communism! They need a windows toting jesus to surf in with sunglasses and a guitar or something
  
  Preferably on the back of a dinosaur.
- Balmer? Yes, I believe that was one of the biggest blunders at a conference he was attending 😂.
- No Mac. That's one of those cool colorful monitors from 1999
  
  Those were iMacs...

Talk shit on FOSS, by comparing it to communism like it’s a bad thing, on Lemmy.
Now there’s a message this place will love, lol.
- It's clearly a red scare parody.
  
  Of course, and it’s an old image too, but it still amused me thinking of the contrast between the message and the current audience.
- it seems like a pro-communist programming message to me. the red dude looks super cool and supportive.
  
  Yeah, he’s probably giving mad tips to the dev and he looks happy, so we know the red dude is not just a dickhead.

Hey Microsoft, your GitHub is showing
- If github is still showing, you must be logged in.
- https://github.com/rnicrosoft
  (At some point that username existed: don't know when it was killed)

Well at least they are slighty more open to open source software since it make them money.
- They're just making face, doing what is necessary to prove they're not evil, cuz open source software is in now.
  
  I highly doubt that. They are open-sourcing a small suite because it is economical to do so. Closed source means constantly having to re-train newcomers. Normalizing VsCode and friends will go a long ways. Same thing Google did with their IT certs.
  
  Nah, nobody cares about their monopoly anymore. They got outmaneuvered on mobile, and they're stuck being a desktop OS while the rest of the market moves around them.
  Happens a lot with monopolies. IBM was the biggest name in mainframes, but their PC division made a standard that other companies would take and run.
  Microsoft wouldn't have put as much effort into WSL if it was just performative.
  
  Microsoft open-sourced all of dotnet core, which is arguably the largest and most well-maintained (with exceptions) collection of tools/platforms for developers that exsists to date. So, I don't really agree that they're just "making face"

Based.

This makes me like it even more.
- I find the irony of the kid being on a shitty early 00’s iMac to be hilarious here

That iconic mac was the icing on the ~~cake~~ kek

This is great, where are the rest?
- This is a photoshop, the original from Modern Humorist said something like “when you download MP3s, you’re downloading communism” and it was attributed to the RIAA instead of Microsoft.
  Source: I owned the print of this a couple decades ago, and you can probably find Modern Humorist on archive.org
  
  Thanks!

Shit, I though at least one will be like "where linux" 🤣🤣🤣.

And here I thought I was programming a Bluetooth a2dp app.... I guess C is for communism?

Communism!
- Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
  Communism!
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
  I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

Now there's a guy I would have pegged as an Epstein disciple.

Yeah, but why would Microsoft post this? They barely make any open-source software so why are they promoting FOSS development?
- It's a meme dude, it's a play on poster from the early 2000's about pirating media.
  
  Okay but is this completely fake or was this an actual FOSS promotion poster and the creator of the meme wrote Microsoft on it?

Use the right tool for the job

Communism...
- Nah, Linus would never let that happen.
- Man on crypto themed instance has dumbass take, more news at 10.
  
  I am aware of that lmao
  At 10: This crypto nerd also seems to be using a lot of proprietary software as well as an Invidia GPU. Dave, have you got more information?
  -Yes I do actually. Additionally, This Linux noob appears to be using a Chinese smartphone! People like this are certainly a disgrace to the Linux community.

Oh great, the Communists have found this community. Time to make a new one.
- Why are you surprised that there's huge overlap between FOSS and Leftist beliefs? They go hand in hand.
  
  They in fact do not. One can be conservative and support FOSS. Saying that is a over generalization
  
  Yeah but communists are a whole other level. They consider liberals to be nazis lol
- Why downvote? I and comrade Starlight approve.
  
  The more communities - the more communists.
- Good luck

Can we keep mainstream politics out of here please. I'm sick of them getting shoved into everything.
- Is Communism "mainstream" now?
  Joking aside, politics are everywhere, and Lemmy is always going to be more political than reddit, as choosing Lemmy over Reddit is almost purely a choice based on political values.
- everything is political.
- FOSS is political.
  
  As much as I'd hate to admit it, everything is politics... talking with your wife is politics.

No. Foss Software is peak Capitalism.
Socialism means a central bureau decides what is needed and worked on
Meanwhile Capitalism is a System of decentralization
Foss Software isn't being centrally ordered because someone higher up decides it is needed. First the need arises and then the "Market" (The Developers out there) create a Solution to fullfill this need.
This Market, this pool of Developers is decentralized in smaller Groups. And that's good that way. I don't want someone to decide which Software gets developed. Not some CEO and definitely not some Bureaucrat.
I mean, the F in FOSS allows decentralized usage and a lot of People in the FOSS-Community prefer decentralized Solutions
- Wrong on several fronts.
  Socialism means workers collectively own the means of production, and it isn't synonymous with central planning. Concepts like ParEcon, Worker Councils, Mutual Aid, and so forth reinforce this decentralized structure.
  Capitalism is similarly not a system of decentralization but of many centralized islands. Each individual capitalist entity is very centralized in structure, more so than a system of Socialist entities, such as Syndicalism or Market Socialism.
  FOSS itself rejects the profit motive and markets, and therefore is the antithesis of capitalism. Capitalism relies on private ownership, the profit motive, and IP protections, all of which FOSS abolishes.
  Truthfully, the fact that you don't want some CEO or bureaucrat deciding what gets produced unilaterally is precisely why your views are actually that of a leftist. You desire more democratization of production, a Socialist ideal to the core!
  The fact that FOSS is based on non-profit decentralization is the very reason FOSS communities are dominated by leftists.
  
  Socialism means workers collectively own the means of production, and it isn't synonymous with central planning.
  This can only be true if you stop thinking at the end of the sentence, without reading into any of the implications, or any circumstantial cause and effect.
  If the workers collectively own everything, then that means that every worker has just as much right as anyone else to make decisions on how the process plays out. This means that the group has to come up with a way to make decisions. Since the group has to make a decision, and everybody has a right to make decisions, the group is effectively making decisions on behalf of those in the group.
  If the workers collectively own everything, then that means they have to work together and organize to get things done. This means that the group has to come up with a way to organize. This means that the group will be deciding on behalf of those in the group what work is done by who.
  If the workers collectively own everything, that means the workers have to decide what rules or laws to follow, and how to enforce them. So now the group has to decide by what convention it'll hold its members accountable. If it wants to hold members accountable, it implicitly has the power to do so.
  A group with decision making power that enforces law among its members is a central authority.
  A central authority with power over the market and all decision making is central planning.
  Your description of capitalism legitimately sounds like mental gymnastics. You can call anything centralized if you reduce the context to only itself. That is dishonest, the context here is the market. If a market is centrally planned, then all aspects of the market need to be centrally planned by the same unit. That's what central planning means. A disunited group of private entities all planning things for themselves is absolutely not an example of central planning.
- Take my gold

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