Olivier Forget
@olivierforget.net
Aerospace engineer turned developer and entepreneur. https://olivierforget.net Interested in web and user agency on the net. Building https://dropserver.org
Tailwind 4 switching around the order of their utility classes is making me miss 3000-line append-only CSS stylesheets this morning.
At least I got my NY resolution for 2026: rip out TW from my projects finally.
At least I got my NY resolution for 2026: rip out TW from my projects finally.
December 31, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Tailwind 4 switching around the order of their utility classes is making me miss 3000-line append-only CSS stylesheets this morning.
At least I got my NY resolution for 2026: rip out TW from my projects finally.
At least I got my NY resolution for 2026: rip out TW from my projects finally.
Reposted by Olivier Forget
TIL: Compression Dictionary Transport 💡
A new HTTP feature that can dramatically shrink the size of your responses, especially when serving content that changes often but includes a lot of repeated structure (think: JSON, JS, CSS).
Learn more 👇
developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/...
A new HTTP feature that can dramatically shrink the size of your responses, especially when serving content that changes often but includes a lot of repeated structure (think: JSON, JS, CSS).
Learn more 👇
developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/...
Compression Dictionary Transport - HTTP | MDN
Compression Dictionary Transport is a way of using a shared compression dictionary to dramatically reduce the transport size of HTTP responses.
developer.mozilla.org
December 30, 2025 at 4:00 PM
TIL: Compression Dictionary Transport 💡
A new HTTP feature that can dramatically shrink the size of your responses, especially when serving content that changes often but includes a lot of repeated structure (think: JSON, JS, CSS).
Learn more 👇
developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/...
A new HTTP feature that can dramatically shrink the size of your responses, especially when serving content that changes often but includes a lot of repeated structure (think: JSON, JS, CSS).
Learn more 👇
developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/...
My seven year-old is the same. I think most are. Children understand fairness. Then at some point the ideals of fairness and caring are educated out of them and replaced by competition and getting ahead.
Two weeks ago I spent the whole day at the Museum of the Moving Image to listen to New Yorkers. This is what Liam shared with me.
December 28, 2025 at 6:38 PM
My seven year-old is the same. I think most are. Children understand fairness. Then at some point the ideals of fairness and caring are educated out of them and replaced by competition and getting ahead.
More and more web devs are vibe coding apps for personal use.
Dropserver.org is ideal for hosting such apps. The apps are sandboxed, user management is built in, and backups, restores, moving the hosted app around is easy.
Now I just need to get LLMs aware of DS!
nolanlawson.com/2025/12/28/a...
Dropserver.org is ideal for hosting such apps. The apps are sandboxed, user management is built in, and backups, restores, moving the hosted app around is easy.
Now I just need to get LLMs aware of DS!
nolanlawson.com/2025/12/28/a...
An experiment in vibe coding
For the holidays, I gave myself a little experiment: build a small web app for my wife to manage her travel itineraries. I challenged myself to avoid editing the code myself and just do it “v…
nolanlawson.com
December 28, 2025 at 5:51 PM
More and more web devs are vibe coding apps for personal use.
Dropserver.org is ideal for hosting such apps. The apps are sandboxed, user management is built in, and backups, restores, moving the hosted app around is easy.
Now I just need to get LLMs aware of DS!
nolanlawson.com/2025/12/28/a...
Dropserver.org is ideal for hosting such apps. The apps are sandboxed, user management is built in, and backups, restores, moving the hosted app around is easy.
Now I just need to get LLMs aware of DS!
nolanlawson.com/2025/12/28/a...
I feel seen
My favorite advice for blogging remains that you should hit publish while you are still actively unhappy with what you have written, because the only alternative is a huge folder full of drafts and never publishing anything at all
December 28, 2025 at 4:29 PM
I feel seen
Reposted by Olivier Forget
A new Ringspace release with some helpful updates!
- Ring servers now have a homepage with member listing and built-in validators
- Ring servers can serve any ring, not just default rings!
codeberg.org/mttagga...
- Ring servers now have a homepage with member listing and built-in validators
- Ring servers can serve any ring, not just default rings!
codeberg.org/mttagga...
December 27, 2025 at 8:32 AM
A new Ringspace release with some helpful updates!
- Ring servers now have a homepage with member listing and built-in validators
- Ring servers can serve any ring, not just default rings!
codeberg.org/mttagga...
- Ring servers now have a homepage with member listing and built-in validators
- Ring servers can serve any ring, not just default rings!
codeberg.org/mttagga...
Reposted by Olivier Forget
now i get it. it's not as clean but let me exaggerate for effect:
mastodon is the "everything really really matters" network. like classroom serious.
bsky is the "nothing really matters" network. that's why the jokes here are better, and the mood is better, and there's dancing on the volcano.
mastodon is the "everything really really matters" network. like classroom serious.
bsky is the "nothing really matters" network. that's why the jokes here are better, and the mood is better, and there's dancing on the volcano.
December 26, 2025 at 5:59 PM
now i get it. it's not as clean but let me exaggerate for effect:
mastodon is the "everything really really matters" network. like classroom serious.
bsky is the "nothing really matters" network. that's why the jokes here are better, and the mood is better, and there's dancing on the volcano.
mastodon is the "everything really really matters" network. like classroom serious.
bsky is the "nothing really matters" network. that's why the jokes here are better, and the mood is better, and there's dancing on the volcano.
Omg people on here think my car is cool. I'm in the right place.
This was also my reaction last year when we rented a plugin hybrid Pacifica. I had been generally anti-minivan my entire life, but that thing was amazing.
we rented a chrysler pacifica for our trip down to see my folks after christmas and i now totally get why people like minivans. this thing rules.
December 25, 2025 at 2:44 AM
Omg people on here think my car is cool. I'm in the right place.
Reposted by Olivier Forget
We lost the package manager fight, and now
`curl myhost/install | sudo bash`
is everywehre.
`curl myhost/install | sudo bash`
is everywehre.
December 24, 2025 at 4:54 PM
We lost the package manager fight, and now
`curl myhost/install | sudo bash`
is everywehre.
`curl myhost/install | sudo bash`
is everywehre.
Reposted by Olivier Forget
This is a good question and my take is: because AI working in ways that both match what the tech is actually good at and what people would buy obliterates nudging and the tech monopolies can't maintain their margins if they can't corral people against their preferences. Brief 🧵
What I don’t understand really is why capitalism doesn’t function properly here. The obvious thing is for someone to supply the service without the bullshit that customers don’t want. And they buy that instead and not the flawed shit.
Network affects aside that should happen. But it doesn’t.
Network affects aside that should happen. But it doesn’t.
December 16, 2025 at 9:34 PM
This is a good question and my take is: because AI working in ways that both match what the tech is actually good at and what people would buy obliterates nudging and the tech monopolies can't maintain their margins if they can't corral people against their preferences. Brief 🧵
Reposted by Olivier Forget
Part 2: It's hard to overstate just how much of the top of the tech economy rides on using UI to control people against their will. The entire search engine market, worth tens of billions, rides almost only on that. Same browsers. Same anything privacy-invasive. Same app stores. It's a long list.
December 16, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Part 2: It's hard to overstate just how much of the top of the tech economy rides on using UI to control people against their will. The entire search engine market, worth tens of billions, rides almost only on that. Same browsers. Same anything privacy-invasive. Same app stores. It's a long list.
I imagine this is going to down like the "I can't believe you used to smoke inside bars" reactions from the young ones.
"I can't believe you used to let every car into the city for free? Didn't you have gridlock, pollution, and dead pedestrians?"
"I can't believe you used to let every car into the city for free? Didn't you have gridlock, pollution, and dead pedestrians?"
I refuse to shut up about this: NYC started charging $9 to bring a car into our most transit-rich zone, the haters & trolls predicted doom, but traffic evaporated instantly and here’s Times Square tonite (even after the holiday tourists have left). For a better future, build transit & price driving!
December 20, 2025 at 7:40 PM
I imagine this is going to down like the "I can't believe you used to smoke inside bars" reactions from the young ones.
"I can't believe you used to let every car into the city for free? Didn't you have gridlock, pollution, and dead pedestrians?"
"I can't believe you used to let every car into the city for free? Didn't you have gridlock, pollution, and dead pedestrians?"
Reposted by Olivier Forget
Threads is effectively shelving their fediverse integration, after it saw marginally little use
Zuck has played the game well, harming both open protocol movements while growing his platform, getting good PR and distracting regulators
connectedplaces.online/reports/fedi...
Zuck has played the game well, harming both open protocol movements while growing his platform, getting good PR and distracting regulators
connectedplaces.online/reports/fedi...
December 19, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Threads is effectively shelving their fediverse integration, after it saw marginally little use
Zuck has played the game well, harming both open protocol movements while growing his platform, getting good PR and distracting regulators
connectedplaces.online/reports/fedi...
Zuck has played the game well, harming both open protocol movements while growing his platform, getting good PR and distracting regulators
connectedplaces.online/reports/fedi...
I understand that CBS is circling the drain. That's on them. But why the heck is Bank of America putting their name on this? I don't have high expectations about large institutions at this point, but come on.
"We here at Bank of America remember a time when a woman couldn't get a credit card without her husband's approval. Wouldn't that be fun again?"
"Has feminism failed women brought to you by bank of america" is my MKULTRA sleeper agent activation phrase
December 19, 2025 at 7:40 PM
I understand that CBS is circling the drain. That's on them. But why the heck is Bank of America putting their name on this? I don't have high expectations about large institutions at this point, but come on.
Reposted by Olivier Forget
Happy slightly belated 90th birthday to the Douglas DC-3, an airplane whose impact on the world of aviation is hard to over-estimate.
Virtually every major airline in existence today operated it either directly or somewhere in its lineage, from launch customer American to KLM to Ethiopian.
Virtually every major airline in existence today operated it either directly or somewhere in its lineage, from launch customer American to KLM to Ethiopian.
December 18, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Happy slightly belated 90th birthday to the Douglas DC-3, an airplane whose impact on the world of aviation is hard to over-estimate.
Virtually every major airline in existence today operated it either directly or somewhere in its lineage, from launch customer American to KLM to Ethiopian.
Virtually every major airline in existence today operated it either directly or somewhere in its lineage, from launch customer American to KLM to Ethiopian.
Reposted by Olivier Forget
I love to create things, and will keep doing that.
December 18, 2025 at 4:22 PM
I love to create things, and will keep doing that.
Reposted by Olivier Forget
We really need to start paying attention to this underlying need that is driving the demand for "AI". This is a real human need. We know that because it is making people do things that are objectively not very smart. People will compromise their reasoning and their values to get their needs met.
December 17, 2025 at 5:55 PM
We really need to start paying attention to this underlying need that is driving the demand for "AI". This is a real human need. We know that because it is making people do things that are objectively not very smart. People will compromise their reasoning and their values to get their needs met.
Reposted by Olivier Forget
Great blog post from Matt Haughey on driving a VW Buzz from Texas to Oregon. When the Buzz was announced, I was hoping it would look a little more old-school VW, but seeing one in person they look really good. Seems mostly well designed inside too.
December 16, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Great blog post from Matt Haughey on driving a VW Buzz from Texas to Oregon. When the Buzz was announced, I was hoping it would look a little more old-school VW, but seeing one in person they look really good. Seems mostly well designed inside too.
I remember those days of smoke everywhere. Don't miss them. I remember going out in NY soon after the smoking ban, and it was fine. People get over things easily when it's clearly the right thing to do.
I lived thru the end of public smoking. Early in my career I presented to city councils who were smoking, in front of audiences who were smoking.
Smoking in restaurants, airplanes, hospitals…
All of that seems insane now, but it was very controversial when we DID change it.
We CAN change things.
Smoking in restaurants, airplanes, hospitals…
All of that seems insane now, but it was very controversial when we DID change it.
We CAN change things.
It’s crazy that people used to be able to just smoke cigarettes wherever they wanted
December 16, 2025 at 6:31 AM
I remember those days of smoke everywhere. Don't miss them. I remember going out in NY soon after the smoking ban, and it was fine. People get over things easily when it's clearly the right thing to do.
Reposted by Olivier Forget
What we are working on right now: blog.exe.dev/meet-exe.dev
We all need more virtual machines. We keep building software to work around the fact that VM infrastructure is clunky. Let's have good VM infrastructure instead.
We all need more virtual machines. We keep building software to work around the fact that VM infrastructure is clunky. Let's have good VM infrastructure instead.
December 15, 2025 at 11:40 PM
What we are working on right now: blog.exe.dev/meet-exe.dev
We all need more virtual machines. We keep building software to work around the fact that VM infrastructure is clunky. Let's have good VM infrastructure instead.
We all need more virtual machines. We keep building software to work around the fact that VM infrastructure is clunky. Let's have good VM infrastructure instead.
Reposted by Olivier Forget
this field biologist does a great job highlighting the insidiousness of AI editing
these one-click AI edit buttons are incredibly appealing to many photographers, amateurs and professionals alike, and are framed as innocuous
this is worth sharing and educating people about
these one-click AI edit buttons are incredibly appealing to many photographers, amateurs and professionals alike, and are framed as innocuous
this is worth sharing and educating people about
December 15, 2025 at 2:21 AM
this field biologist does a great job highlighting the insidiousness of AI editing
these one-click AI edit buttons are incredibly appealing to many photographers, amateurs and professionals alike, and are framed as innocuous
this is worth sharing and educating people about
these one-click AI edit buttons are incredibly appealing to many photographers, amateurs and professionals alike, and are framed as innocuous
this is worth sharing and educating people about
Reposted by Olivier Forget
Right-on-red is imho the biggest signal [sic] of how much the U.S. prioritizes driving
December 15, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Right-on-red is imho the biggest signal [sic] of how much the U.S. prioritizes driving
Reposted by Olivier Forget
Being into retrocomputing, it's interesting how UIs from the 90s mostly feel just right to me—and I don't think that's just purely nostalgia or growing up with it.
Things like window borders that are visible so you know where to resize things and scrollbars that indicate the current viewport.
Things like window borders that are visible so you know where to resize things and scrollbars that indicate the current viewport.
One amazing thing about 2025 is that, if you start up an Apple product, it forces you to choose between _three different_ window mangers, but if you start up a clean install of a current version of Linux, it just chooses good defaults for you.
December 13, 2025 at 3:34 AM
Being into retrocomputing, it's interesting how UIs from the 90s mostly feel just right to me—and I don't think that's just purely nostalgia or growing up with it.
Things like window borders that are visible so you know where to resize things and scrollbars that indicate the current viewport.
Things like window borders that are visible so you know where to resize things and scrollbars that indicate the current viewport.
Reposted by Olivier Forget
Sometime it feels too easy to dunk on the idiocy that is Boom Supersonic's unfulfilled promises and fanciful vision for the future. So maybe it is fitting that the company pivoted to an AI-focused play with a partner that believes in orbital data centers.
paxex.aero/boom-pivots-...
paxex.aero/boom-pivots-...
Boom Pivots to Power | PaxEx.Aero
Can selling power generation be Boom's ticket to success? Or is it just more distraction from the technical and financial challenges of supersonic commercial flight?
paxex.aero
December 12, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Sometime it feels too easy to dunk on the idiocy that is Boom Supersonic's unfulfilled promises and fanciful vision for the future. So maybe it is fitting that the company pivoted to an AI-focused play with a partner that believes in orbital data centers.
paxex.aero/boom-pivots-...
paxex.aero/boom-pivots-...
Reposted by Olivier Forget
