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Lionel Dricot — Novelist, software freedom educator, creator of Offpunk
le blog de Lionel Dricot
ploum.net/index_en.htmlLionel Dricot writes about software freedom, digital autonomy, and the case for building technology that doesn't depend on corporate platforms. He's a novelist (author of "Bikepunk"), a software freedom educator, and the creator of Offpunk — a tool for browsing Gemini, Gopher, and the web offline. His posts move between practical software releases and broader philosophical questions about what technology should be for, always grounded in the conviction that the tools we use shape how we think.
Written by Lionel Dricot.
Regular
Publishes weekly or bi-weekly
1
Independent Blog
English
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Do not apologize for replying late to my email
Do not apologize for replying late to my email You don’t need to apologize for taking hours, days, or years to reply to one of my emails. If we are not close collaborators, and if I didn’t explicitly tell you I was waiting for your answer within a specific timeframe, then please stop apologizing for replying late! This is a trend I’m witnessing, probably caused by the addiction to instant messaging. Most of the emails I receive these days contain some sort of apology. I received an apology fro...
Offpunk 3.0 "A Community is Born" Release
Offpunk 3.0 "A Community is Born" Release For the last four years, I’ve been developing Offpunk, a command-line Web, Gemini, and Gopher browser that allows you to work offline. And I’ve just released version 3.0. It is probably not for everyone, but I use it every single day. I like it, and it seems I’m not alone! Offpunk, the offline-first command-line browser Something wonderful happened on the road leading to 3.0: Offpunk became a true cooperative effort. Offpunk 3.0 is probably the first...
The Disconnected Git Workflow
The Disconnected Git Workflow Using git-send-email while being offline and with multiple email accounts WARNING: the following is a technical reminder for my future self. If you don’t use the "git" software, you can safely ignore this post. The more I work with git-send-email, the less I find the GitHub interface sufferable. Want to send a small patch to a GitHub project? You need to clone the repository, push your changes to your own branch, then ask for a pull request using the cu...
Why there’s no European Google?
Why there’s no European Google? And why it is a good thing! With some adjustments, this post is mostly a translation of a post I published in French three years ago. In light of the European Commission’s "call for evidence on Open Source," and as a professor of "Open Source Strategies" at École Polytechnique de Louvain, I thought it was a good idea to translate it into English as a public answer to that call. Pourquoi n’y a-t-il pas de Google européen ? (ploum.net) Europe...
Giving University Exams in the Age of Chatbots
Giving University Exams in the Age of Chatbots What I like most about teaching "Open Source Strategies" at École Polytechnique de Louvain is how much I learn from my students, especially during the exam. I dislike exams. I still have nightmares about exams. That’s why I try to subvert this stressful moment and make it a learning opportunity. I know that adrenaline increases memorization dramatically. I make sure to explain to each student what I was expecting and to be helpful. Here...
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