At 2025-02-06T11:38:08-0600, Gunnar Wolf wrote: > Satvik Sinha dijo [Thu, Feb 06, 2025 at 09:19:59PM +0530]: > > Guys come on what the hell. Since past few days all I have been > > hearing on this mailing list is endless arguments sparked by debian > > team pulling out of X.Since past few days you had been also bringing > > geo politics into open source space. We all know when microsoft > > decided to pull plug on windows , for our older systems and one who > > cannot afford buying new ones just yet cause it hadn't been that > > long when they first bought their system we have to end up relying > > on Linux that is our only hope when windows start slowing down > > approaching end of life period.Debian is literally open source so we > > can see what code is being put into it so it's no issues. > > (...) > > Free software *is* politics. Involvement in a global-scale free > software project *is* by itself a political statement. No, it is not > partisan- or country-specific politics, but it is an expression of how > a group of people want to influence the way society works.
I want to amplify this point and build upon it.
He who tells you that an activity should be carried out without raising
matters of politics, is a person whose own politics are already
ascendant.
In other words, Satvik Sinha is a making a _political_ argument for
retention of the status quo.
People can be uneasy about, or opposed to, Debian disentangling itself
from Google for all sort of reasons. I'm not interested in enumerating
them, but I do observe that making a "full disclosure" of one's
employment status with Google does not suffice to establish a lack of
conflict of interest.
I hear that Google's workforce and culture has changed a lot over the
years. One thing that hasn't is the propensity of its staff to
humblebrag about working there as part of adding their two cents to any
technical discussion on any subject.[1]
You and your employer do not necessarily have aligned interests, and the
larger your employer, the less likely is _any_ overlap.
Don't take my word for it. Realize it yourself after you're laid off.
My advice--not that I expect anyone to take it--is that if you work for
Google, don't talk about it _and_ don't participate in any community
decision making process involving the company in any way. These are the
ethical things to do if you're involved with Debian. If the thought of
this frustrates you, try to salve your feelings by reviewing your latest
pay stub. And if even that doesn't work, maybe you're not working at
the right place.
Regards,
Branden
[1] Apple staff are like that too. With Microsoft the tendency seems to
wax and wane with a period of about ten years.
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