That’s not what they said. Free software can be paid for, either via users or via subsidies. Nobody in this thread suggested that developers starve.

To be pragmatic here are ways free software can be monetized :

• get a salary from a company or institution that relies on free software
• ask for donations via e.g. https://liberapay.com/ or Patreon or OpenCollective
• get money per project via CrowdFunding platforms e.g. KickStarter or for hardware https://www.crowdsupply.com/
• get subsidies directly, e.g. NLNet (International, no need to be European), or https://www.sovereign.tech/programs/fund or by being part of a consortium, e.g. public/private partnerships on a theme e.g. https://www.ciiic.nl/en/calls/learning-communities

I professionally do both, namely I get paid to develop free software but I also pay free software developers, e.g. https://gcompris.net/ via their https://www.patreon.com/animtim . I also until recently worked in a public institution and was paid to write free software.

I think it is important not to conflate free software with free of cost and indeed free of production. Free software developers, like me, need to pay their bills but that does NOT have to be opposed to your freedom in using and modifying that software. By implying a false dichotomy by software being either proprietary or funded somehow you are in fact sadly promoting proprietary software, please do not do that.

Corruption in play sight, terrifying symbolism for all to see. Washington is more transparent that people think.

Fueled by FSD SpaceX xAI. /$

I bet someone from HN is already “generating” that brilliant idea thanks to their SOTA meta-harness right now using Claude Fable. Or something.

A VR headset is basically a phone with lenses, so yes. That’s why cardboard and free promotional gifts of lenses snapping on phones work.

My point though isn’t about the technical abilities but rather about the social expectations. If you buy a device that does something intrusive but you know that in order to deliver the main value it will do that, it’s OK. It’s part of the social contract. If somehow though a device is intrusive but it’s not expected, either because it was thought to be impossible to do or unrelated to it’s original purpose or both, then it’s a big problem, a breach of the social contract.

Arguably that’s a bit difference because to do that you have to explicitly do it (room setup) and you view the result (visual preview with semi-transparent triangles over your place). You can also read the ToS and I believe in some case specify if you allow the information to be sent back to the Meta. I’m not saying it’s OK, only that it’s explicit and it’s part of the “normal” usage of the device.

Sousveillance

Ah my bad, thought you were questioning their decision to do so whereas you’re actually saying it’s perfectly normal, right?

I guess they meant to highlight that they are “all in” and not looking back.

Why would they keep their USD if they don’t spend it anymore and they clearly do not believe the country is going down a good path?

They decoupled, they don’t have to follow US news and for each bad news hurt both psychologically and financially.

Starting to worry we’re talking past each other.

Yes, RISC-V isn’t used at scale in data centers. Now though that NEW criteria are taking into account, namely sovereignty, they precisely might despite their limitations, including performances. If though it’s just political signalling without any actual will and subsequent advantage and in reality only performance matters, they still won’t be used.

Because those components are (theoretically) sold as equivalent. If you sell me cycles in a data center, one for 10e/h and another for 100e/h (because it’s 10x slower and thus must have ~10x more instances) and you don’t give me any details on why, I’ll take the 10e and of course it won’t be competitive. FWIW I do buy compute time in data centers and I’m also aware (but not involved with) https://www.top500.org/ and how none of them are RISC-V based, it’s not my point. My point is that the metrics to compare will never make it competitive if we exclude its raison d’etre. RISC-V was never proposed to be the most efficient and powerful architecture (even though of course it’d be nice if it’d be).

It’s like apple versus orange then complaining that the apple doesn’t taste orange-like enough. Sure, that’s correct, but also pointless.

Edit : it’s not an “anecdote” it’s a proof of existence, again RISC-V works today. It’s not set of blueprints. It does compute, easy as that.

Depends entirely on the metrics you use for comparison. In terms of performances yes of course it’s slower than others, nobody is contesting that. In terms of openness it fairs better than most. My point was solely that it’s usable for some use cases and thus that it’s not a theoretical architecture in 2026. It works. Yes it’s slow but for use use cases it doesn’t matter.

If you don’t care for openness then it’s not competitive. Being competitive depends entirely on your constraints.

Damn, the same way Tesla reaches FSD next year, thanks Elon for saving the World one promise at a time! /$

Nothing because it depends on the workload? I mean if you run a static Website to few people it’s more than enough. If you’re trying to predict weather or render high definition 3D graphics in real-time it’s not… but also nothing is so…

Was it a rhetorical question and if so what were you implying?

reverse engineer American technology

Like what? Which technology are you talking about?

RISC-V is decades away

Eh… what? I have a RISC-V SBC and it just works, running Debian on it in minutes of setup and it cost me peanuts.

Sure it’s not a state of the art CPU … and if I wanted to run anything demanding on it, I’d have to be patient. Heck it’s not even made in the EU but in China… but it works, today, it just depends on what your workload is. So yes it’s not the fastest or has the best efficiency but still, it exists already.

it’s so easy to install apps on smartphones right now

Providing choice as a default is precisely about people who are influenced by defaults. It’s NOT about how feasible something technically is.

Perfect, I might even set my UA for reddit to mobile then, I need an “excuse” to keep on using it less. I still browse it without an account but I should lose the habit.

Because Linux phones with proper hardware are sold at 1k and hundreds of people want to but that, not thousands or millions and thus they don’t actually get built. Couple of attempts just lasttear didn’t pan out.

if you love in the US

<3