Not discrediting Open Source Software, but nothing is 100% safe.

  • While I generally agree, the project needs to be big enough that somebody looks through the code. I would argue Microsoft word is safer than some l small abandoned open source software from some Russian developer

      • That’s true, but I’m not a programmer and on a GitHub project with 3 stars I can’t count on someone else doing it. (Of course this argument doesnt apply to big projects like libre office) With Microsoft I can at least trust that they will be in trouble or at least get bad press when doing something malicious.

        • I mean if a github project has only 3 stars, it means no one is using it. Why does safety matter here? Early adopting anything has risks.

          This is kind of a false comparison. If it has 3 stars then it doesn’t even qualify for this conversation as literally no one is using it.

    •  rufus   ( @rufus@discuss.tchncs.de ) 
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      1 year ago

      Ehmm. if nobody uses it, it kinda doen’t matter if it’s safe. And for this example: I bet more people had a look at the code of LibreOffice than MS Office. And i dont think it sends telemetry home in default settings.

    • This is actually changing thanks to the proliferation of SBOMs and projects like assured OSS.

      And either way you’re comparing apples to oranges. You trust Microsoft not because they’re closed source but because they set a precedent. Do you trust Meta’s apps or TikTok to not abuse their permissions? Everything else being equal would you trust a closed source fediverse server more than an open source one?