Aleksandar Erkalovic

Viewing software through the Richard Stallman/GNU/"free as in freedom" lens would have run our industry into the ground.

But it was the only alternative to proprietary software for ~20 years. So lots of folks worked on it despite finding Stallman problematic.

This was the period when women largely declined to be part of computing, despite having pretty reasonable representation through the 80s.

The main faces of software at this point: - terminally-uncool Bill Gates - the dude who keeps saying women aren't interesting colleagues

The "pipeline," as it were, dried up from the middle outwards, as Stallman's attitude normalized those prejudices & attracted more like him.

In the early 2000s, "open source" was a breath of fresh air. All of the usefulness! None of the built-in arrogance, privilege, or misogyny!

But just because it wasn't built in doesn't mean it disappeared. As folks converted, the behaviors normalized by Stallman & others followed.

We've spent the better part of another 20 years shaking that shit off. And we're not done with that process, by any means.