Comment by prodigycorp
19 days ago
I'm extremely wary about any application pushing politics.
I subscribe to MacPaw, who makes excellent apps like Setapp, Gemini, and CleanMyMac, all of which I use.
At some point, CleanMyMac started putting the Ukranian flag on the app icon and flagging utilities by any Russian developer as untrustworthy (because they are russian), and recommended that I uninstall them.
I am not pro russia/anti-ukraine independence by any means, but CleanMyMac is one of those apps that require elevated system permissions. Seeing them engage in software maccarythism makes me very, very hesitant to provide them.
Sorry, what does this have to do with notepad++?
Sorry, I meant to reply to this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46851664
Please refer to it for context.
You should repost under the intended post
The notepad++ author has publicly come out in favor of Taiwanese independence.
Taiwan is already independent. Surely the normal way to refer to it would be as coming out against assimilation with mainland China?
11 replies →
[flagged]
if you're going to give in and avoid applications because, like in this case they take a strong stance on Ukraine or Taiwan the hack has literally achieved its purpose. Either silence the author directly or destroy its userbase.
Fuck'em and just donate ten bucks to notepad++ , I'd rather my pc breaks then reward this crap
I think I made it clear that I use (and pay for) their applications. I also think I made a sufficiently nuanced comment that doesn't suggest that I've "given in" to anything.
what I took a bit of offense with is the term "software maccarythism". That's a movement now remembered for an over-reaction to often imaginary enemies. Ukraine is right now fighting for its life in a hot war on our continent here in Europe. Taiwan is at the very real risk of being invaded.
American and European infrastructure is subject to cyber attacks that that are effectively hostile military acts already. I don't think a vocal stance on Ukraine and an exclusion of Russian developers deserves the rhetoric of McCarthyism or being 'too political' as is these days a fashionable accusation. This is no red scare, this is speaking up for people bombed on a daily basis.
2 replies →
I can see where they got that idea from. You saying you won't provide permissions at the end ends up sounding a lot more like you won't use the app than I imagine you intended. (Although, subscribing to an app and then not using it would be silly.)
I support the Ukraine effort as well, but breaking my applications seems like a bridge too far.
I hate to say this, but wariness of software developed within Russia has been around for ages, long before the current war.
Since there are a lot of both Ukrainian and Russian software developers, this is personal for a lot of people in the industry.
> anti-ukraine independence
What the fuck is that supposed to mean, lol. Ukraine isn’t done secessionist state.
> Seeing them engage in software maccarythism makes me very, very hesitant to provide them.
So are they wrong when flagging software or not? You haven’t provided any details.
They flag AdGuard for Safari as suspicious. It's one of the most popular mac apps, if adguard is truly suspicious then it should be bigger news.