[VOTE] Use GitHub issues instead of bugs.openwrt.org

[Sam Kuper]

On Thu, Jan 27, 2022 at 11:15:31AM +0100, Paul Oranje wrote:
> Most arguments against going GitHub are about it being in control of a
> private company that likely puts its own interests (to be more
> precise: its shareholders) before that of other stakeholders, see f.e.
> groklaw.net, a legal trove that documents (earlier) practices and
> conduct of such companies. Considerations like these touch on
> principles, in this case principles of FOSS. [P]rinciples are of
> another nature then technical arguments (i.e. practical).

Sidenote: all good principles are rooted in practical considerations.

Proprietary code hosts can and do abuse their users.[1]

(Microsoft also takes practical steps to undermine governments and NGOs
that attempt to protect software freedom and open standards.[2])

Best wishes,

Sam


[1]:  E.g.
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SourceForge&oldid=1061804700#Controversies

and

https://www.jwz.org/blog/2021/07/micros1-launches-automated-license-laundering-system/

As the latter link implies, GitHub CoPilot is basically the latest
incarnation of Microsoft's "Embrace, extend, and extinguish" policy.[3]

It could substantially weaken the enforceability of the copyright (and
copyleft) license protections on which Free Software depends.

That is *massive* practical harm.

(License enforcement has never been *easy* - cf. Christoph Hellwig vs
VMware - but with CoPilot it looks like it will become *much harder*.)



[2]: Microsoft has for years been waging global war on this front.  The
best known case is its battle to reduce migration from MS Office to
OpenOffice or LibreOffice.

https://www.jwz.org/blog/2018/06/lol-github/

https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2409808/microsoft-bullied-mps-over-government-switch-to-open-source-standards

https://web.archive.org/web/20080409112647/http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9033701&source=rss_news6

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2007/07/office-open-xml-iso-certification-process-grows-even-murkier-for-microsoft/

Microsoft also actively undermines open standards in other areas,
including email - again with negative practical implications for Free
Software users, developers and maintainers, e.g. per these threads:

https://dovecot.org/pipermail/dovecot/2022-January/123872.html

https://mail.python.org/archives/list/mailman-users@python.org/message/7LGNHAOQ7SFNMWOF6AEQETZPIRYZX5TU/



[3]:
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguish&oldid=1065713990


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