Discursive Podcast

Your Code Might Outlive You

In the main segment, we challenge the rewrite-first mindset and make the case for durability, maintenance, and reuse as creative acts. Drawing from experience upgrading decades-old scientific code and from industry examples that outlive frameworks and fads, we explore the high cost of throwing software away and the value of architecture that separates what changes from what doesn’t. We also consider how AI assistants can help us understand and maintain existing systems rather than reflexively rewriting them. Read the original post for context: Your Code Might Outlive You.
Then in the news roundup: (1) Cisco’s open-source MCP-Scanner uses YARA rules and LLM-based analysis to hunt for risks in Model Context Protocol servers; (2) a proposal to bring a reactive programming DSL to Go, nudging developers beyond goroutines-and-channels for event streams; and (3) a bit of rail magic — the sleeper train from Milan to Sicily that still rides a ferry across the Strait of Messina — and the 13.5B€ bridge that could end the ritual.
Links
Main segment
Your Code Might Outlive You (blog post)
Things You Should Never Do, Part I — Joel Spolsky
Hexagonal Architecture (Ports & Adapters) — Alistair Cockburn
Apache Log4j 2 — Project page
COBOL — Wikipedia
Upgrading to React 18 — React Blog
Software maintenance — Wikipedia
News
MCP-Scanner — Scan MCP servers for vulnerabilities (GitHub)
Go beyond Goroutines: introducing the Reactive paradigm (Substack)
ro — Reactive programming for Go (GitHub)
The last European train that travels by sea (BBC Travel)

When Code Writes Code: The New Licensing Frontier

Generative AI can now rebuild full software products in minutes — but can it do that legally? In this episode, we dive into the collision between AI-generated code and the fine print of software licenses. Tools like Cursor, Copilot, and ChatGPT are transforming how developers work, but they’re also testing the limits of what “independent development” really means.
This episode summarizes this Medium post - https://medium.com/@tobrien/the-fine-print-ai-forgot-982934bfd923We’ll look at how vendors are rewriting terms of service to prevent being “AI’d out of business,” why clauses about “competing software” suddenly matter again, and how lawsuits like Doe v. GitHub are setting early precedents. Along the way, we’ll unpack real-world examples — from Highcharts’ license language to Meta’s Llama 2 restrictions — and talk about the ethics of cloning software with a model.
The takeaway: with great AI power comes great legal responsibility. Before you ship your next AI-generated feature, read the terms — or risk reading a summons instead.Links from the News:
Rust GPUI Components – GitHub: Rust GUI components library for building cross-platform apps using GPUI (by Longbridge) – https://github.com/longbridge/gpui-component
GPUI Official Site: Introduction and docs for the GPUI framework (from the creators of Zed editor) – https://www.gpui.rs/
“Recall for Linux” Satire – GitHub: Parody repository bringing Microsoft’s Recall to Linux (humorous project poking fun at Windows Recall) – https://github.com/rolflobker/recall-for-linux
Stockholm Univ. News – Unexpected Astronomical Observations: Researchers find surprising patterns in 1950s telescope data – https://www.su.se/english/news/unexpected-patterns-in-historical-astronomical-observations-1.855042

The Fork-It-and-Forget Decade

In this episode, Tim O’Brien looks back at three decades of open source — from Unix labs in the 1990s to the chaotic Cambrian explosion of GitHub — and argues that we’re entering a new “Fork-It-and-Forget” era.
Article this Episode Summarizes: https://medium.com/@tobrien/the-fork-it-and-forget-decade-dbb41008f961
Generative AI isn’t just coding; it’s starting to fork, patch, and remix open source projects at machine speed. Tim connects the dots between Linux’s 2.4 kernel, the rise of Apache, the Git revolution, and the next wave of AI-driven code evolution — and what it all means for developers, FinOps teams, and the economics of software.
Discursive Podcast covers technology across cloud, FinOps, and the shifting boundaries between human and machine creativity — one 10-minute story at a time.