A new update to the Raspberry Pi operating system, formerly known as Raspbian, has put open source fans at their fingertips. Why? The new operating system is ping on Microsoft servers each time the user updates their applications or the operating system itself.
Brouhaha is a bit of a storm in a teapot, because The new operating system simply pings repositories holding Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code editor, a streamlined IDE that has become a formidable tool in the programmer’s arsenal and probably a solid educational tool.
That being said, open-source fans see companies like Microsoft as anathema (or at least a hindrance) to their work. The same zealots successfully fought for the Raspberry Pi Foundation to open its graphics driver for its GPU, VideoCore at Broadcom cip.
What Microsoft could do with this ping is limited, however Reddit users are worried that Bing-targeted ads may be sent, which will focus on Raspberry Pi users.
“People didn’t get a chance to know about the new repo until it was already added to their sources, along with a Microsoft GPG key. Not too transparent to say the least. And, in my opinion, not how things should be done in the open-source world “, wrote the Reddit user Fortysix_n_2.
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The Raspberry Pi team sees this move as an effort to facilitate the coding of new users on the platform.
“Thank you all for your feedback, this will not change as it makes the first experience for people who want to use tools like VSCode easier,” he wrote. Gordon Hollingworth, Director of Software Engineering Raspberry Pi.
These repositories are the databases that the operating system uses to keep software versions and updates available. Most repositories are open source and are in places like Github, while the Visual Studio repo code is on Microsoft servers. Users who want their devices not to be removed from the company code do not immediately have the option to stop this repo when installing the Raspberry Pi operating system.
“The more I think about it, the more trustworthy it becomes, ”Raspberry Pi CEO Eben Upton told Gizmodo. “It seems that this is a minority of people who have an unrealistic view of the number of people they trust when they settle. anything piece of software. It’s not just proprietary software –remember how we all trusted that OpenSSL must be good because it is free and widely used and could not be full of terrible security bugs? It’s ridiculous to suggest that we’re somehow betraying people by choosing to trust Microsoft. ”
But some people interpret the movement as a betrayal and therefore jumping the ship.
“I’m sorry Raspbian, but I have to say goodbye to you. No resentment. I wish you all the best and rot in hell “, wrote a Reddit user Dr0zD.