Anyone who thinks we don't need regulation because open-source can save us all hasn't been paying attention the past few decades. The convenience tech companies offer can't be ignored, because it's exactly why users don't opt for open-source solutions that are (arguably, at least) far superior. It is not reasonable to expect casual users to be able to - or even want to! - debug their software, or jump through hoops to get it installed, keep it updated, etc.
I’m having trouble thinking of any open source product that both targets consumers and has a high degree of polish.
Any ideas?
I think the best case scenario for open source user owned ai is something similar SQLite: runs everywhere, easy for developers to use, and packs a punch. If that existed for models I could see this working.
Many important parts of android auch as the keyboard, camera App and even call/SMS have been der facto replaced with closed source alternatives by Google or your smartphone manufacturer.
I'm unimpressed by whataboutism. This doesn't change that I can a very fine LineageOS experience on my phone.
I'm also impressed by Inkscape, logseq, kicad, vscode. Gnome isn't exactly my cup of tea but it is pretty polished & my parents use it fine. Psi messenger works nice. Matrix/Element is fine.
I personally think there's an unbelievably huge amount of very good nicely polished open source apps out there. Ther would be even more apps and more polish if more folks would try venturing off the Windows & MacOS paths too.
If you always buy the cheapest version of everything, people will also buy the cheapest version of you.
But there are a lot of other factors. People are often afraid of tech. If they consider employing something new, it has the be the "ready-to-use-version", where you don't even have to engage the technology itself.
That said, I am critical of regulation giving advantage to more solid and open technologies. Politics would use it as a buy-in for influence at established tech companies.
Look at AI, politics doesn't want to look at questionable data collection, it has a problem with open source models or that "everyone can use AI". The first scream would be about scams and criminals.
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[ 2.3 ms ] story [ 23.9 ms ] threadAnyone who thinks we don't need regulation because open-source can save us all hasn't been paying attention the past few decades. The convenience tech companies offer can't be ignored, because it's exactly why users don't opt for open-source solutions that are (arguably, at least) far superior. It is not reasonable to expect casual users to be able to - or even want to! - debug their software, or jump through hoops to get it installed, keep it updated, etc.
Any ideas?
I think the best case scenario for open source user owned ai is something similar SQLite: runs everywhere, easy for developers to use, and packs a punch. If that existed for models I could see this working.
and I think gnome has a better UX than Windows and MacOS (though Apple at least cares about UX).
I'm also impressed by Inkscape, logseq, kicad, vscode. Gnome isn't exactly my cup of tea but it is pretty polished & my parents use it fine. Psi messenger works nice. Matrix/Element is fine.
I personally think there's an unbelievably huge amount of very good nicely polished open source apps out there. Ther would be even more apps and more polish if more folks would try venturing off the Windows & MacOS paths too.
But there are a lot of other factors. People are often afraid of tech. If they consider employing something new, it has the be the "ready-to-use-version", where you don't even have to engage the technology itself.
That said, I am critical of regulation giving advantage to more solid and open technologies. Politics would use it as a buy-in for influence at established tech companies.
Look at AI, politics doesn't want to look at questionable data collection, it has a problem with open source models or that "everyone can use AI". The first scream would be about scams and criminals.