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Cake day: August 4th, 2025

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  • The only one of your sources that directly contradicts what I am claiming is the Wikipedia line about the source being publicly available. But that is inaccurate. All the major open source licenses require source code be available to anyone who has access to the executable form of the software - not the public in general. So, if some FOSS software is available to download on the Internet without any restriction on its access, then so must the source code. Most FOSS software is distributed this way.

    However, if you write software under an open source license, you are not required to share that software with anyone. The license requires you to distribute the source ALONG WITH the software. But it doesn’t require you to make the software freely available to everyone, or anyone.

    Tying back to my original point, which has been derailed by myriad people who refuse to read before thinking they know things, I was saying that we don’t need exceptions for military software because it can be licensed as open source without that code being handed over to our enemies. But requiring it to be open source would, for example, preclude the DoD from building kill switches into the F-35s that they sell to our allies, because they’d be required to share the design of the plane’s control systems along with the product - again, only to the people who receive a copy of the product - not to the public at large.





  • The lack of understanding around open source is alarming. Open Source licenses only require someone to share the source with anyone who gets a copy of the binary. So top secret military software can still be open source because if the DoD doesn’t share the binary, they don’t have to share the code either. But forcing it to be open source ensures that if that software is ever declassified and distributed to 3rd parties, those third parties will have a legal right to the source.








  • For a project as big and old and full of legacy code as LibreOffice, I think their interface is pretty great. And its way more customizable than MS Office. Its just not the absolute latest and greatest in styling.

    And, if MS didn’t make it so hard to maintain compatibility with their “open” file format, TDF might be able to put more resources into UX. As it is, they have to reverse engineer all the nonconforming BS that Microsoft puts in their OOXML implementation.




  • humanamerican@lemmy.ziptoMicroblog Memes@lemmy.worldLanguage
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    29 days ago

    Eh, I haven’t had that issue in years. Maybe its a problem for office workers who make extremely complicated documents and spreadsheets, but those aren’t the kinds of people I’m talking about.

    EDIT: Not implying you’re wrong about M$ fake open standards bullshit, just that I don’t think its a huge concern for the average home user.



  • humanamerican@lemmy.ziptoMicroblog Memes@lemmy.worldLanguage
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    30 days ago

    I can’t even get people to switch to LibreOffice, not cuz they use some advanced MS Office feature but because the interface “looks dated”. So they’d rather pay a subscription for life to use software that spies on them than download free software that does what they need but has a 2010s style interface.

    Humans suck so much.