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Malleable software: Restoring user agency in a world of locked-down apps (2025)

162 points · 75 comments · evakhoury

  1. trashb · · focus · HN ↗
    I agree that the current state of software is quite rigid. There is no room for imperfection and often one opinion is seen as fixed the best.

    I think the essence of the GPL is trying to solve this issue, the freedoms of that license is focused on keeping software as editable as possible. The idea of malleable software is not new but most "business/industry" software is still very rigid.

    One of the more interesting realized concepts of malleable software are the freewheeling apps from Kartik Agaram (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;akkartik.name&#x2F;freewheeling&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;akkartik.name&#x2F;freewheeling&#x2F;). Additionally in my opinion the idea of malleable software is at the core of unix everything is a file and the plan 9 system.

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