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source: [[floss]]
commit: c94e2aaddc035a8ab536b0c29de66f8c8e28ca3f
generator: gemini
date: 2026-01-30
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# An Open Letter to the Free Software Community

To my fellow hackers and builders:

We have won the war on the server, but we are losing the war for the user's mind.

We build tools that respect freedom, but we often forget that **usability is a freedom issue**. If a tool is too hard to use, it is effectively proprietary to the priesthood who understands it.

I call for two shifts in our strategy:

1.  **Focus on UX**: We must treat design with the same reverence we treat code. A beautiful interface is an act of hospitality.
2.  **Build Siphons**: Instead of building walled gardens, let us build "siphons" — tools that make it trivially easy to export data *out* of proprietary silos and into user-owned repositories.

Let us build software that feels like a home, not a puzzle. Let us build the Agora.

Flancian