Framework recently sponsored and advertised Hyprland and Omarchy, two fairly unremarkable projects unrelated except for the fact that they are led by hateful and (at least in Omarchy’s case) fascist tech bros. See also this thread for everyone voicing their disappointment.
I am still hopeful that the company will change course on this, but Nirav’s recent tweet suggests he doesn’t really care. That’s unacceptable to me, so I’m probably going to have to return my new Framework 16 in the next week. Some people are dismissing this as a “purity test”, but for me (and many others) it’s very simple - Framework is funding people who would love to see my friends dead or deported, and who are using their influence in tech circles to argue for that sort of thing. I refuse to contribute to that funding.
But I still love the idea of a modular, repairable, upgradable, and open-source laptop. So to all the hackers and entrepreneurs out there, I would like you to know: if you started a modular laptop company that directly competed with Framework, but understood the paradox of tolerance, and didn’t sponsor people trying to undermine human rights, you would have my money and support in a heartbeat.
(Note: I understand the Hyprland community and leadership has somewhat improved recently. Great! That does not address the DHH issue.)
The Libreboot maintainer sells ThinkPads which have it pre-installed - https://minifree.org/
While not quite as modular as the FrameWork, there are enough old ThinkPads out there that you’ll be able to find spare parts and upgrades for many years to come.
I will also be returning the Framework Desktop I received a couple of days ago. While I will probably just build a custom machine in its place I have been looking at alternatives to replace the FW13 that I have had for years. The MNT Reform Next seems like an interesting alternative in the open hardware space. It’s definitely more of a niche product built on the ARM architecture and officially supporting Linux only but it should meet my mobile computing needs. I have followed some of their staff on Mastodon for awhile and their values seem to actually align with my own, instead of just being empty platitudes.
Considering there’s no evidence that neither Hyprland nor Omarchy are “hateful”, Framework is a pretty good non-hateful alternative to Framework.
Just bought a Framework Desktop today to spite you rabble-rousers. And although I need ECC for server purposes, I have half a mind to allocate company budget to rack and stack Framework Desktops in our cabinets for the same reason.
i have an mnt pocket. the only downside is it is arm, so a lot of things outside of the debian channel will be up to you to configure properly. also the creator of it is extremely welcoming and is leftist & queer themselves. bonus points for being in germany like myself so the shipping was quick. my FW13 is for my wife now, and she will just cover the logo with cute stickers
Do you think it is ethical to use a company’s community space designed and paid for to help folks get the most of their purchase, as your area to do research on a competitor?
Because I sure don’t. Pretty sure you could ethically have this conversation basically anywhere else on the internet, then right here.
My answer is yes because this person posted this on general topic, even though this post is about purchasing other alternatives on framework provided platform.
I very much disagree, especially when the whole rest of the internet is eager to have this conversation. It is not ethical, but that wasn’t the true intent of this thread anyway. Intentionally trying to drive people away from Framework because of a perceived ethical qualm while also demonstrating a lack of ethics is par for the course at this point, but no less ironic.
I respect your opinion. I believe this person doesn’t break the rules and posting this on general topic which it’s allow user to talk about anything within the community rules.
let the moderators of the forum do their job. if it breaks rules then it will be handled. you are not a moderator though, so trying to dissuade people from posting just comes across as combatitive.