Notices by Adrian Cochrane (alcinnz@floss.social), page 3

Updates from the FSF Tech Team: https://www.fsf.org/bulletin/2020/spring/tech-team-update

Trial By Proprietary Software: https://www.fsf.org/bulletin/2020/spring/trial-by-proprietary-software

Regarding the popular uptake of Zoom during COVID19.

I think one of the most important things you can do, given the skills, for a software freedom future is: Make movies & other entertainment!

Seriously as long as we're relying on major corporations to entertain us, they will be pushing proprietary software & DRM on us.

Also it's a good way to communicate our concerns, but ultimately all that's important is to have (more) great DRM-free entertainment for all to enjoy!

No coding skillz required.

History of DRM and the campaign against it: https://www.defectivebydesign.org/blog/what_has_happened_and_where_weve_come_short_history_drm

What I do:
* Categorically refuse to support DRM in the web browsers I develop
* Promote high-quality movies & (audio) shows which are distributed without it
* Not subscribe to or watch any "streaming" services (unless I'm joining family/friends for socializing)

Please recommend me some movies so I have to make exceptions?

"Furthermore, even without the [security] bugs, JavaScript is increasingly being used in ways that are fundamentally user-hostile – ranging from The Pirate Bay’s non-consensual cryptocurrency mining to advertising companies’ intrusive tracking of users across the web."

http://john.ankarstrom.se/replacing-javascript/ One of my favourites!

I will probably let links partially update their webpage like Intercooler.js & HTMX allow! Plenty of precedence for that...

The reason why computers work so well for so many tasks boils down to the concept of "Turing Completeness" described by Alan Turing and independantly Alonzo Church & Haskell Curry.

Which to oversimplify means that all you need to solve any math problem, or simulate another Turing Complete machine, are four operations:

1. Store arbitrary ammounts of data for later use.
2. Do different things for different data
3. Repeat Instructions
4. Communicate to, or ideally with, people. Otherwise WHY?

2/

Mastodon and the challenges of abuse in a federated system: https://nolanlawson.com/2018/08/31/mastodon-and-the-challenges-of-abuse-in-a-federated-system/

MIT, guided by open access principles, ends Elsevier negotiations: http://news.mit.edu/2020/guided-by-open-access-principles-mit-ends-elsevier-negotiations-0611

Advice To Young Web Developers: https://beesbuzz.biz/blog/2934-Advice-to-young-web-developers

Always Bet On HTML: https://gomakethings.com/always-bet-on-html/

Describes what I love about HTML (and CSS)! It doesn't break, and is far more capable than people give it credit for.

I do take the stance that ideally we wouldn't have JS on The Web, but as it is today: yes, JavaScript has it's place.

Clarification: For point one, we actually need the ability to store arbitrary ammounts of data.

The Turing Machine used an infinitely long tape for memory, which is why we still consider hypothetical.

The basic theory as that as long as a computer can do these four operations it can compute just about anything:

1. Remember data for later reuse
2. Do different things for different data
3. Repeat instructions
4. Communicate to, or ideally with, people, otherwise what's the point?

Anything else is a convenience.

And any language/machine that provides these four operations can simulate any other machine which also satisfies them.

2/2

One of Alan Turing's most famous discoveries is "Turing Completeness", which speaks to how broadly applicable computers can be.

The argument ultimately relys on intuition to argue his hypothetical machine can infact define "every possible algorithm", but the independant discovery by Haskell Curry strengthened the case.

It was Curry shortly after who coined the term "Turing Machine", as both men wrote addendums to their papers arguing that the others' ideas were equivalent.

1/2

Environmental web design & use tips:

* Wherever possible, choose text. Text is by far the most efficient (and as I like to illustrate, universal) medium.
* Make sure everything on your site has a good reason to be there. Avoid frameworks to further this.
* Compress your images & video.
* Especially avoid JavaScript, it adds significantly more processing effort to rendering.
* If you love something, download it. Buy it. Avoid advertising.
* Make sure HTML & CSS downloads fast.

"Can we please stop doing ridiculous nonsense with websites that don't need it? You don't need JS to make a button press or JS to make a link work or JS to type text or JS to load all content on a page or... just no.

Developers, stop breaking the web, please."

https://nitter.net/geekygirlsarah/status/1260409688413306882#m

Related: https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/technology/using-progressive-enhancement

@tomosaigon @strypey This essentially goes back to the "1) Get rid of all unnecessary JavaScript" point.

And when it comes to "streaming", I think viewers need the option to download movies/shows they particularly like and will rewatch. Unfortunately capitalism often gets in the way of these efficiencies...

Recommending alternative entertainment is one measure you can take, I do!

Quick tip: Don't promote (in package repositories, etc) your app as being "user friendly". Everyone likes to think that about their apps.

Instead try to describe what "user friendly" means to you. Because that's your differentiator.

"Today, DRM stands as a perfect example of everything terrible about monopolies, surveillance, and shareholder capitalism."

"We gave up on owning things – property now being the exclusive purview of transhuman immortal colony organisms called corporations – and we were promised flexibility and bargains. We got price-gouging and brittle­ness."

https://boingboing.net/2019/09/03/the-book-stopped-working.html & https://locusmag.com/2019/09/cory-doctorow-drm-broke-its-promise/

@emsenn I also quite enjoy "Kittens Love References": https://invidio.us/watch?v=qAPy8bHI-ms

But seriously I do want help developing a new browser engine! I've got enough on my plate, but as a browser developer I feel a certain responsibility.

So if you're a developer who's also concerned about the collapse in browser divirsity, or even just security or accessibility, please tell me your interests and I might be able to suggest a smaller component for you to tackle in whatever spare time you have.