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Full post of my thoughts and permalink: duncan.dev/link/rubygem...
What a mess. I personally believe that everyone was acting with the best of intent from their point of view under a lot of pressure. I canβt help but think how much better this would have gone if everyone had sat down first over a meal and a beverage to talk through how to accomplish this.
Finally, last month Ruby Central took some much needed steps to consolidate control and accountability over the RubyGems GitHub repositories. It was the right general thing to do but the execution of it was⦠not the greatest. Blame flew hard and fast.
That didnβt help as much as it should have and things have been in an uncomfortable state since then. During my entire tenure at Shopify, I worked closely with the Ruby and Rails teams there and we were incredibly concerned about the security of the Ruby ecosystem software supply chain
A bit of history:
For a while after its creation, RubyGems was loosely supported by the community. Then, Rails-hosting provider Engine Yard stepped in and provided support until 2015 or so. Then, AndrΓ© Arko and several others formed Ruby Together to serve as a vehicle for sponsorship of the work.
Iβm really happy to see the RubyGems repository transferred to the Ruby organization. This is probably 20 years overdue. www.ruby-lang.org/en/news/2025...
Iβm really happy that Ruby core is stepping in for the repos/governance. Gems is core to Ruby now, and has been for a long time. It should be there, imo.
Iβve been staying out of it but I know that there are layers and layers, probably most of which arenβt visible and therefore making what we see in the surface seem really weird.
Itβs a fascinating example of how LLMs generate what *ought* to exist rather than what *does* exist. Pattern matching, not truth retrieval.
Theia Vogel has a great deep-dive on why this happens: vgel.me/posts/seahor...
There is no seahorse emoji. But GPT-5, Claude, and most other LLMs are absolutely convinced there isβand will confidently try to give you one if you ask.
I like the slight change in attitude that Sonnet 4.5 has. When it was reviewing my latest link blog post and adding in the confidence it had in its answers (in my preference prompt), it replied: βConfidence level: Pretty high - I write and edit regularly, though of course taste varies.β π€£
Good timing for sure!
Really cool to see that @flox.dev keeps expanding where Nix and reproducible environments can go.
I really like how Reeder renders the `external_url` property in JSON feed and finally got off my butt and implemented a JSON feed for my site. Yay for the open web!
KPop Demon Hunters is on heavy rotation in the house these days, which means those damn catchy tunes are ear-wormed into my brain. Solution: Headphones and a thorough metal cleanse followed up by some good beats. Todayβs treatment is the new Linkin Park followed up by some Chemical Brothers.
Halcyon on and on⦠so good
Reminder: the βRona is still out there even in the summertime on the beach where Iβve been. This time pretty mild so far, thankfully.
Well⦠you know.
Iβm a fan of Satya and hold Microsoft stock.But Iβm not a fan of this zero-sum approach to the near future. I may be naΓ―ve. But I still believe thereβs a positive-sum version of AI disruptionβone that values people and builds new leverage for teams, not just balance sheets.
That inversion? Itβs the shift from human-driven productivity to AI-driven margins. Itβs a vision where profitability can growβwithout so many of those messy human costs.
Satyaβs memo is polished and clear. It lays out Microsoftβs pivot toward an AI-first future and positions layoffs as an inevitable consequence of reinvention at scale. βFor years, the sector has been generous to its employeesβ¦ AI, however, inverts that relationship.β says Om.
Microsoft lays off ~15,000 people in a year where it reports record profits. Satya Nadella sends a memo framing the pain as necessary and leadership as embracing it early. Om Malik took a closer look: om.co/2025β¦
One door closes and the next opens. God speed my friend.
Almost four and a half years ago in early 2021, I went to work at Shopify. It was one of the best jobs Iβve had. But every tour of duty comes to a close. Iβm going to take a few months this summer to really reflect on what I want to take forward with me. duncan.dev/post/free-ag...
Neither do a lot of people. π€·πΌ
I've found that leaning into Daniel Kahnemanβs "Thinking fast and slow" has really improved the way I work with LLMs. Itβs all about the mindset you arrive with.
duncan.dev/post/ai-thin...
Claude can create 50 API designs in minutes. ChatGPT can write endless variations. The new superpower isnβt generating work β itβs knowing what to reject.
duncan.dev/post/art-of-...
I picked up a new MacBook Pro on recent travels and the model I wanted at the Apple Store had a nano-texture screen. And oh boy, yah. Me like. Itβs gooooood.
Especially when enhanced by jet lag.