: Foundation says it won't compromise policy of inclusivity even if that cash would've really helped

The PSF’s mission statement enshrines a commitment to supporting and growing “a diverse and international community of Python programmers,” and the Foundation ultimately decided it wasn’t willing to compromise on that position, even for what would have been a solid financial boost for the organization.

“The PSF is a relatively small organization, operating with an annual budget of around $5 million per year, with a staff of just 14,” Crary added, noting that the $1.5 million would have been the largest grant the Foundation had ever received - but it wasn’t worth it if the conditions were undermining the PSF’s mission.

The PSF board voted unanimously to withdraw its grant application.

  • hello_hello [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    6·
    4 days ago

    It’s inevitable that open source organizations suffer under this kind of pressure because open source itself is a capitalist term.

    Open Source has successfully depoliticized the previous free software movement and has co-opted it for the benefit of large finance capital interests who are now able to take advantage of public infrastructure at zero cost or massively reduced cost.

    Open source has become a way for tech workers to build out their resumes and make themselves appear more appealing to large corporations who are inevitably the only source of capital funds. This creates a system of patronage which in turn affects which software gets developed and created versus other kinds of software. It is to say which software produces the most profit and expense cutting versus which software would actually liberate people.

    By rejecting the collective ownership of copy left, tech no proletariat have relinquished their rights in order to appease capitalists who, in the very end as we see, will always be the exploiter and robber of the labor power of millions.

    When the vast majority of this “open source software” is developed on a proprietary Microsoft-owned platform that advertises proprietary products, you know that the movement has been co-opted.

    The only way forward is to insist that all software must be collectively owned by the workers and by society as a whole rather than hoarded and sold by capitalists.