Interessant3 #150 | 🖥 JavaScript Freedom, 🚀 Bootstrapped ARR, 📈 Free-Market Resurgence
Three Interesting Things for W/C 2025-07-20
1. Richard M. Stallman – “The JavaScript Trap”
🕸️ Many sites unknowingly load proprietary JavaScript into users’ browsers, undermining software freedom even on ostensibly “free” pages.
🔒 Because the code executes locally, it bypasses normal scrutiny; users run non-audited programs without consent, recreating the very lock-in that free software avoids.
🛠️ Open-source activist Stallman proposes automatic rejection (or substitution) of non-free scripts via tools like LibreJS and urges developers to serve JS under proper free licences.
🌐 The essay reframes browser scripting as a locus of user autonomy, arguing that true web openness demands source-available, modifiable scripts.
🔗 The JavaScript Trap – GNU.org
Kyle Nolan – “We Reached $1 M ARR with Zero Funding” (ProjectionLab)
💡 Built a personal-finance simulation app solo, deliberately shunning VC money to retain product focus and creative control.
📊 Growth came from relentless customer feedback loops: weekly changelogs, transparent road-maps, and a vibrant subreddit community.
🧩 Revenue strategy mixed freemium tiers, annual plans, and a healthy upsell to lifetime licences to smooth cash flow.
🌱 Key lesson: modest pricing + obsessive polish can out-compete louder, better-funded rivals—proof that patience still pays on the indie SaaS path.
🔗 We Reached $1 M ARR with Zero Funding – ProjectionLab Blog
Noah Smith – “Free-Market Economics Is Working Surprisingly Well”
📉 Argentina’s Javier Milei defied critics by slashing a 31 % spending gap - monthly inflation fell from hyper levels to ~2.4 %, with GDP rebounding 5.8 %.
🏗️ Deregulation (rent control repeal, labour-market flexibility) sparked supply surges and dropping rents, challenging fears of social implosion.
In truth, Milei is hardly the only example of neoliberal success in recent years. Although China is nominally communist and now engages in a lot of industrial policy, from the 1980s through the early 2000s its approach was almost entirely one of privatization. India got a big growth expansion from liberalization in the 1990s and 2000s, as did Vietnam. Poland’s development miracle is largely a neoliberal one — its industrial policy has focused mostly on simply promoting foreign direct investment, while its other policies have simply been a mix of institutional improvements and free trade.
🔄 Smith argues policy efficacy is path-dependent: nations oscillate between state and market fixes; neither camp owns a permanent mandate.
🌍 The broader takeaway: mixed economies thrive when leaders correct excess - not when they idolise a single ideology. Evolution beats revolution.
🔗 Free-Market Economics Is Working Surprisingly Well – Noahpinion (Substack)
Join us next week for three more intriguing topics that challenge the norm and expand your horizons! ✌️
🌟 Sponsored by PopaDex
Discover a smarter way to securely manage your finances with PopaDex. Our platform automatically consolidates all your financial data into an intuitive interface, giving you a clear view of your net worth and empowering smarter budgeting and investment decisions. With advanced encryption and anonymisation, we prioritise your data privacy, ensuring secure storage and transmission.
Explore more at popadex.com.
