• Rentlar@lemmy.ca
    193·
    12 days ago

    Unlike Microslop Outlook, there’s a program that doesn’t break when you lose internet connection.

      • CrazyLikeGollum@lemmy.worldEnglish
        104·
        12 days ago

        No, given that one of the points of Outlook (and most email apps) is to store a local archive that can be read even when offline.

      • ilinamorato@lemmy.world
        44·
        12 days ago

        Some people are being a bit pedantic about not technically needing the internet for email, and that’s true, but the pedantry is hiding the fact that actually email is really cool in how it exists in whatever form we want it to be in! It can be transmitted over internet, or over bare TCP/IP, or even peer-to-peer. Most applications don’t take advantage of how versatile email really is.

        Of course, Micro$oft makes it rely on an always-on internet connection because it’s better for their bottom line.

      • marcos@lemmy.world
        43·
        12 days ago

        Email is older than the internet.

        Anyway, no, you don’t need internet for the modern version we have today either. You only need it for a few moments.

      • can@sh.itjust.works
        12·
        12 days ago

        Sorry to see you dog piled for an innocent question. We should see it as a good thing that someone who doesn’t know found this space.

  • WesternInfidels@feddit.onlineEnglish
    90·
    12 days ago

    Years ago I when I wrote software for a living, I had an argument with a colleague, and I tried to explain to him:

    The “supported” closed-source library he wanted to use was pretty popular because it was marketed by a huge company with a marketing department, or because it had a first-mover advantage, or because there were training events and books built around it, etc.

    The unsupported free open-source library I wanted to use was the most popular library of its kind in the whole world. And it got to that position without any of those advantages.

    What does that suggest about their relative usefulness? The world of open source is closer to being a real meritocracy. The number one app or library is probably number one for non-structural reasons.

    • Decq@lemmy.world
      33·
      12 days ago

      I think the main reason most companies choose closed source is because management gets a hard-on for the thought of having someone to complain to. If they can’t call meetings with someone responsible and demand a quick fix, what use do they still have? All you can with open source is fix it yourself or create an issue. Neither requires a manager.

      • Diplomjodler@lemmy.world
        8·
        12 days ago

        Correct. Also, they need someone to delegate the responsibility to. They are mainly concerned with not being held responsible for any potential fuck-ups. If they can say “the vendor did it” they can deflect the blame. Unfortunately that’s how making a career in the corporate world works for the vast majority of people. You advance by avoiding getting blamed for mistakes, not by brilliance or competence.

      • lad@programming.devEnglish
        3·
        12 days ago

        And then after they demanded a quick fix it will be swiftly delivered in next decade

      • SpongyAneurysm@feddit.org
        2·
        12 days ago

        A main issue, according to my non-software related work-life experience is also: liability reasons.

        Being able to legally blame someone else when shit goes wrong is a very motivating driver for executive decisions.

    • utopiah@lemmy.world
      6·
      12 days ago

      And that’s why GenAI for code is gaining popularity.

      It’s not because it’s better than free open-source libraries. It’s because it’s better marketed.

      • nandeEbisu@lemmy.world
        2·
        12 days ago

        Eh, Claude’s cutting edge frontier models are definitely better than the good open source models which lag a bit behind. The good open source models are still useful though but you’d get noticeably better performance with the closed model which is why even companies that are perfectly capable of locally hosting an open model choose to pay anthropic a premium.

        • utopiah@lemmy.world
          1·
          12 days ago

          Maybe but that wasn’t my point. My point is that a lot of people now invest a LOT of resources, being token, money, time, etc to invent the wheel again. Instead of relying on e.g. Drupal they’ll “generate” yet another CMS which will work (for a while, in theory) not because it’s a good idea (IMHO it’s not) but because it’s been marketed as doable and even “better” on some aspects (e.g. customizable).

          • nandeEbisu@lemmy.world
            2·
            12 days ago

            Ah, you’re referring to local rewrites of utilities that already exist?

            I agree that agents are making more in house utilities which can be wasteful. The shift certainly isn’t helped by the increase in supply chain attacks though.

            • utopiah@lemmy.world
              3·
              11 days ago

              Yes, I didn’t know the expression “local rewrites” but that seems to capture it well.

              My bet it’s another version of the inverse of Not Invented Here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_invented_here where the IT department or a random manager claims that whatever was generated is “theirs” implying agency. They don’t realize that each iteration will get harder and more expensive (bigger context window) while alternatives have accumulated thousands and thousands of “bugs” or even just usage highlighted limits of their implementation. So they are re-inventing their version at great cost and in the end the difference between what they worked on is basically equivalent of open source equivalents but with no community support and instead a dependency on models and infrastructure they don’t own.

  • yesman@lemmy.worldOP
    79·
    12 days ago

    I pulled this off reddit. I know that’s gross, but this was too good not to share.

  • treadful@lemmy.zipEnglish
    49·
    12 days ago

    Gotta feel cool to have your software support the people doing the “real” work.

  • ilinamorato@lemmy.world
    49·
    12 days ago

    It is the year 2,002,026.

    Humanity has conquered capitalism and moved off of Earth. Disease and accidental death have been eradicated. We’ve invented marvelous and miraculous technologies and used them to catapult ourselves to distant worlds.

    It’s an open question whether or not our descendants can rightly call themselves “human” anymore, and indeed some on far-flung planets do not.

    On the planet Seffi, which we call Kepler-725c, one of those human descendants watches the end of a two-dimensional audiovisual narrative, a recent fad on the planet. They aren’t watching it on a computer, per se, but on a holographic mesh device operating across a distributed cluster of nanomachines. The human descendant telepathically interfaced with it to launch the application and the narrative, and now xe marvels at how immersive and compelling the narrative was, despite being contained as it was within a two-dimensional non-interactive form.

    A list of people who contributed to the construction of the narrative concludes its display, and the holomesh reverts to a waiting state, displaying a simple black panel within a white frame. And within that black panel, a small, orange-and-white triangle sits, perfectly centered. The human descendant doesn’t know what it originally represented, and muses briefly about it before deactivating the holomesh and walking out of xeir home to enjoy the sunset beneath the purple-blue trees.

    • PieMePlenty@lemmy.world
      14·
      12 days ago

      I wonder why…
      VLC: a free and open source video player meant to be used by literally everyone.
      Astronauts: a select few chosen people with little to no health problems, in top physical and mental form one could only dream of having.
      I think the Simpsons were on to something when they sent Homer to space.

      • yabbadabaddon@lemmy.zip
        11·
        12 days ago

        I think we shouldn’t make it looks like it’s easy to be an astronaut. Those people are crazy. They are PhD smart and Olympic level fit. This does not come naturally.

        Edit : and JB from VLC is probably one of the most interesting guy to listen to, if you find some of his talks/interviews

  • Pulsar@lemmy.world
    9·
    12 days ago

    I remember once I had to work in a very sophisticated and expensive electrical gear that had fixed internal thermographic cameras. The first thing that popped in the HMI were the VLC cones.

  • Rose@slrpnk.net
    7·
    11 days ago

    In this day, I’m a proud Debian user. (…STS-83 and STS-94 took Debian Linux to the orbit in 1997.) Open Source can into space!

  • M137@lemmy.world
    6·
    12 days ago

    America and Americans plastering their flag and “fuck yuuuuh, 'Muricuh!!” on every possible square centimeter (not even gonna use imperial as a reference) never stops being one of the most cringe and constantly proven stereotypes of all time. I have this game where if youtube recommends a channel I haven’t seen before and it’s an American channel, I count the minutes until the US flag shows up in any way. It’s VERY rarely more than one video, no matter the length of videos that channel generally makes. The worst thing is when you find a channel you like and don’t think about it, it’s just people making videos about stuff they’re interested in, then they swivel the camera around and have an American flag the size of the fucking moon hanging on their wall. It’s so fucking weird, off putting, brainwashed and deeply stupid.

    • GreenKnight23@lemmy.world
      6·
      12 days ago

      IDK what’s sadder, your ability to troll or the fact that it took you effort to type out all that garbage nobody read.

    • WesternInfidels@feddit.onlineEnglish
      3·
      7 days ago

      I am an American and I completely agree, the flag is everywhere. You would think it was required by law, like portraits of Dear Leader in communist totalitarian states, but no, the flag cult is voluntary. “Cringe” is exactly right. Some people just plaster the flag on things as a substitute for any sense of style or design. We’ve been indoctrinated into the flag cult throughout our childhoods, where there was a flag in every room in our schools, and a coordinated prayer-to-the-flag moment every morning.

      I went to Canada in the summer of 2025. In reaction to the insanity from Washington, Canada was experiencing a possibly-unprecedented wave of nationalism, businesses were advertising that they were proudly Canadian, there were even “flag stores” just like we have in the US, but with Canadian flags. In spite of this, Canada had something like 5% as many flags flying in public as the US does. It was possible to be out in public for many minutes at a time without seeing any flags at all. That doesn’t happen in the US.

      Americans don’t understand how propagandized they are.

      Edit: Cringe example: The Boulevard of 500 Flags. The notion that it’s a memorial to 9/11 is a modern revision, the “Boulevard” actually dates back to the 90s. That is, this ridiculous array was built, by a large group of supposedly grown-up men, before the wave of post-9/11 nationalism.