At a time when The EU is seeking to cut FOSS funding to funds like @NGIZero
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Wendy M. Grossmanreplied to Esther Payne :bisexual_flag: last edited by
@onepict @thisismissem @EC_NGI Sorry, what's the €140 million?
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Esther Payne :bisexual_flag:replied to Wendy M. Grossman last edited by
@wendyg @thisismissem @EC_NGI The amount that NGI has invested in Open Source Projects.
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Wendy M. Grossmanreplied to Esther Payne :bisexual_flag: last edited by
@onepict @thisismissem @EC_NGI Compared to what we got out of it collectively, that's incredibly cheap.
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Esther Payne :bisexual_flag:replied to Wendy M. Grossman last edited by
@wendyg @thisismissem Like so many of us are really cheap.
But the work that @NGIZero supports is amazing, so many projects. Lot of us still in an early stage. But through it folks like me and MissEm get a bit of funding.
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Evilham :antifa:replied to Esther Payne :bisexual_flag: last edited by
@onepict @wendyg @thisismissem @NGIZero
"So many of us are really cheap" made me lol so badly.
Because, yes. Compared to the amount of tax money we give out to MS and AMZ, we are incredibly effective with little money.
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Esther Payne :bisexual_flag:replied to Evilham :antifa: last edited by
@evilham @wendyg @thisismissem @NGIZero We're spread out across Europe, not all of us live in big cities.
Some of us work in remote areas, online.
At a time when the EU was pondering how to stop the depopulation of areas due to brain drain, what we do seems like it could be a part of the solution.
Not as attractive as big or 🦓.
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Wendy M. Grossmanreplied to Esther Payne :bisexual_flag: last edited by
@onepict @evilham @thisismissem @NGIZero When I said "we" I meant everyone - the economy built on FOSS benefits all of society. Cheap even at a bigger price!
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Leah Rowe is not a Rowebotreplied to Esther Payne :bisexual_flag: last edited by
@onepict @NGIZero A better question is: do we want critical funding for a large number of free software projects to be subject to the whims of the European Commission, who are not directly elected by citizens and whom our adversaries have much more sway over?
I think it should be national governments paying into a consortium that we control, diversifying the fund; national government is more accountable.
NGI is great but the EC is a huge single point of failure, and the EU has been fracturing.
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Leah Rowe is not a Rowebotreplied to Leah Rowe is not a Rowebot last edited by
@onepict @NGIZero Until something better exists, I would suggest that NGI funding must continue for the forseeable future, but I always have in mind the fact that citizens do not control the Commission.
The reason the Commission created NGI was because of our lobbying and due to geopolitical instability around the world, so they want Europe to be more self-sufficient; their reasoning has nothing to do with actual software freedom even if we benefit from NGI in the meantime.
NGI is a liability.
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Esther Payne :bisexual_flag:replied to Leah Rowe is not a Rowebot last edited by
@libreleah @NGIZero I'm not sure.
We've seen issues recently with #innovateuk and the shenanigans with the Womens Innovation funding.
UK funding for FOSS grassroots is pretty thin on the ground.
Although @nlnet is pretty good at managing other non EU Funds. So perhaps more NLNet like funding bodies, spread out.
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Robert Riemann 🇪🇺replied to Wendy M. Grossman last edited by
@wendyg @onepict @thisismissem @EC_NGI how do you measure what we got out of it?
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Esther Payne :bisexual_flag:replied to Robert Riemann 🇪🇺 last edited by [email protected]
@rriemann @wendyg @thisismissem @EC_NGI I think that's what @NGICommons is meant to be for?
I don't know if anyone has measured it.
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Leah Rowe is not a Rowebotreplied to Esther Payne :bisexual_flag: last edited by
@onepict @NGIZero @nlnet NLnet is great, and they've existed since the 90s if I'm not mistaken. I would argue for the creation of a body similar in concept to, say, the W3C, but geared to free software, open source hardware and right to repair. Member-led, fully democratic and transparent.
What NGI actually does is amazing but we can't trust the Commission. The fact that NGI isn't on Horizon 2025's budget proves this fact even if it's later added to the budget; the EC can still cancel it later.
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Esther Payne :bisexual_flag:replied to Leah Rowe is not a Rowebot last edited by
@libreleah I think there's a lot of us in FLOSS who are feeling the lack of an organisation that does represent us.
I used to hope OPENUK could be that for UK folks in the EU. The OSI and FSF are for a different purpose entirely.
I want an organisation that does represent Human Rights and consumer rights like the right to repair. I want more local decentralised organisations that could link in with right to repair cafes and hackerspaces.
I want the focus on community not AI.
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Esther Payne :bisexual_flag:replied to Esther Payne :bisexual_flag: last edited by
@libreleah we can repair, create code and hardware. But we need to eat and we also want other folks to link up with us.
To outreach as well as fund.
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like jam or bootlacesreplied to Evilham :antifa: last edited by
I hate that things work this way, but a big epiphany I had when dealing even a little bit with budgetary bureaucracy is that you absolutely can scupper efforts by asking for too little.
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FediThing 🏳️🌈replied to Leah Rowe is not a Rowebot last edited by
Just to be clear, the European Commission is appointed by the elected governments of member states. (I know this is what you said too, but some people read "not directly elected" as meaning something more dictatorial.)
The ultimate problem seems to be governments and voters are subject to whims, they are easily swayed by the media and anyone controlling or influencing the media.
There are very few politicians or voters who understand the importance of FOSS and its significance for sustainable infrastructure. They might care about the long term consequences though, if these could be made clearer?
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Leah Rowe is not a Rowebotreplied to Esther Payne :bisexual_flag: last edited by
@onepict See, prior to NGI, my guess is that a lot of people just didn't think they deserved better; what we had was all that there would ever be.
Enter NGI. Everyone thinks it's so amazing, all that money coming in, a lot of cool shit gets made.
Then NGI goes away, but it's too late: we know what we're missing. We're losing something, instead of never having it.
I'm basically hoping NGI isn't restored, for this reason. It will force us to help ourselves, and we'll probably be better for it.
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Esther Payne :bisexual_flag:replied to FediThing 🏳️🌈 last edited by
@FediThing @libreleah This is where we need some of our next generation of younger folks to start considering politics. Not just elected folks, but their staff .
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Esther Payne :bisexual_flag:replied to Leah Rowe is not a Rowebot last edited by
@libreleah perhaps, although the amount of folks who've idolised Bill Gates and Elon Musk and think the way to get investment is to attract their attention isn't zero.
We do deserve better and it's why I've often thought that universal basic income, education, transport and healthcare would be better for Foss sustainability.
Although the way libreboot is funded is awesome. Both for funding the development and reusing equipment.