9 lines
3 KiB
Markdown
9 lines
3 KiB
Markdown
# Bloat Monopoly
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Bloat monopoly is an exclusive control over or [de-facto](de_facto.md) ownership of [software](software.md) or even a whole area of technology not by legal means but by means of [bloat](bloat.md), or generally just abusing bloat in ways that lead to gaining monopolies, e.g. by establishing standards or even legal requirements (such as the EU mandatory content filters) which only the richest may conform to. Even if given sofware is [FOSS](foss.md) (that is its source code is public and everyone has basic legal rights to it), it can be malicious due to bloat, for example it can still be made **practically** controlled exclusively by the developer because the developer is the only one with sufficient resources and/or know-how to be able to execute the basic rights such as meaningful modifications of the software, which goes against the very basic principle of [free software](free_software.md).
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**Example**: take a look at the [web](www.md) and how [Google](google.md) is gaining control over it by getting the search engine monopoly. It is very clear web along with web browsers has been becoming bloated to ridiculous levels -- this is not a coincidence, bloat is pushed by [corporations](corporation.md) such as Google to eliminate possible emerging competition. If practically all websites require [JavaScript](js.md), [CSS](css.md), [HTTPS](https.md) and similar nonsense, it is becoming much more difficult to crawl them and create a web index, leaving the possibility to crawl the web mostly to the rich, i.e. those who have enough money, time and know-how to do this. Alongside this there is the web browser bloat -- as websites have become extremely complex, it is also extremely complex to make and maintain a web browser, which is why there is only a few of them, all controlled (despite FOSS licenses) by corporations and malicious groups, one of which is Google itself. For these reasons Google loves bloat and encourages it, e.g. simply by ranking bloated webpages better in their search results, and of course by other means (sponsoring, lobbying, advertising, ...).
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Bloat monopoly is [capitalism](capitalism.md)'s circumvention of [free](free.md) licenses and taking advantage of their popularity. With bloat monopoly capitalists can stick a [FOSS](foss.md) license to their software, get an automatic approval (**[openwashing](openwashing.md)**) of most "open-source" fanbois as well as their free work time, while really staying in control almost to the same degree as with [proprietary](proprietary.md) software.
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Examples of bloat monopoly include mainstream web browsers ([furryfox](firefox.md), [chromium](chromium.md), ...), [Android](android.md), [Linux](linux.md), [Blender](blender.md) etc. This software is characteristic by its difficulty to be even compiled, yet alone understood, maintained and meaningfully modified by a lone average programmer, by its astronomical [maintenance](maintenance.md) cost that is hard to pay for volunteers, and by aggressive [update culture](update_culture.md). |