211–220 of 304 posts
I’ll try to not be dismissive of the labour, though it’s kind of funny (or actually natural) that the heavy lifting libraries that only a few can actually write are open and free, while the shallow wrappers that everyone can write are paid and closed. Decades ago we were calling out these software and now it’s the norm. Another example along the line: I wanted to extract a frame from a video on iOS, it’s impossible w…
May I suggest not offering lifetime updates? All software that does this ends up getting around it in the end because they realize they need to get more money from existing customers to actually stay afloat. Normally by releasing the product under a slightly different name or some other sleight of hand. The model like jetbrains does with IntelliJ I think is decent. Or look at smaller software like sublime text or Arq…
Maybe I'm old school, but I won't "buy" (rent?) subscriptions for software. I expect to own it outright, at to receive at least security updates for a reasonable time period.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have the same view on my own FOSS work (also expressed in its license) and generally also don't think that FOSS authors should feel that their users are obligated to give them anything (beyond the conditions of the license). Though we as a community can still have views regarding kids hacking things trying to profit off decades of hard work by a large community. Different if they contribute back obvioisly. There ar…
> Covid-self-taught kids hacking something half-baked And the mask slips. Maybe don't gatekeep software using licenses as they are designed to be used
Though acting legally and acting ethically/responsibly are still different things.
You did read the rest of my post right?
I’ll try to not be dismissive of the labour, though it’s kind of funny (or actually natural) that the heavy lifting libraries that only a few can actually write are open and free, while the shallow wrappers that everyone can write are paid and closed. Decades ago we were calling out these software and now it’s the norm. Another example along the line: I wanted to extract a frame from a video on iOS, it’s impossible w…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe I'm old school, but I won't "buy" (rent?) subscriptions for software. I expect to own it outright, at to receive at least security updates for a reasonable time period.
> I expect to own it outright Unless you are the legal creator or buy the copyright, you never own software outright, you license it from the owner (or its public domain and has no owner.)
https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/201...
I’ll try to not be dismissive of the labour, though it’s kind of funny (or actually natural) that the heavy lifting libraries that only a few can actually write are open and free, while the shallow wrappers that everyone can write are paid and closed. Decades ago we were calling out these software and now it’s the norm. Another example along the line: I wanted to extract a frame from a video on iOS, it’s impossible w…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem with distributing standalone installers on Windows is that all non-popular apps are immediately regarded as malware by Windows Defender unless you go through the horrendous process of signing your app, which requires obtaining a certificate (which also requires forming a company that is not an LLC) and waiting more than a month while navigating multiple rounds of bureaucracy. I’ve done it for my app, and…
> signing your app, which requires obtaining a certificate (which also requires forming a company that is not an LLC) and waiting more than a month while navigating multiple rounds of bureaucracy. This is not true, not as phrased. A. You can get a cert issued in your personal name. Not an EV one, but still. B. You are likely to already have a company if you are selling online. C. It doesn't take "a month" even for an…
B. That's not always the case with indie developers.
C. Well, it took me. My cert authority was GlobalSign.
> but contrary to the urban legend they are not getting instantly shit-canned by the Defender.
That was not my experience. Try to download an unsigned binary using Edge and see what happens. From what I remember (I'm on macOS, mostly), they are "getting instantly shit-canned".
I’ll try to not be dismissive of the labour, though it’s kind of funny (or actually natural) that the heavy lifting libraries that only a few can actually write are open and free, while the shallow wrappers that everyone can write are paid and closed. Decades ago we were calling out these software and now it’s the norm. Another example along the line: I wanted to extract a frame from a video on iOS, it’s impossible w…
its not just shallow wrapper, as a creator of other shallow wrapper(online and free btw) if you want to crop a video how do you plan to do it with ffmpeg cli? it would be really tedious to do so. You can easily do it visually with this wrapper and other such wrappers so its not like they are not providing value. Another example is do you remember ffmpeg command syntax? i don't! here he is taking care of generating it…
Doesn't mean he manufactured it, or invented it, or conceived of the very idea of an automobile with an ICE (or EV). It's all a big collaborative effort, and imagining that all of the $40k for that car go straight into the dealer's pocket would be absurd. Legally absurd, and ethically absurd as well.
Similar with a piece of software that builds on other work. Of course it provides value (hopefully). But on the whole, the extra value added is not the majority of the whole package.
I’ll try to not be dismissive of the labour, though it’s kind of funny (or actually natural) that the heavy lifting libraries that only a few can actually write are open and free, while the shallow wrappers that everyone can write are paid and closed. Decades ago we were calling out these software and now it’s the norm. Another example along the line: I wanted to extract a frame from a video on iOS, it’s impossible w…
Distribution, marketing and running it is the hard part, not building software. I consider libraries to be like roads, it's a communal good if you will. Feel free to build and run these apps yourself in the open instead of complaining. You will see how time consuming that is.
Building ffmpeg is very different from an SSL lib. They need different tradeoffs, design strategies, domain knowledge, etc. And doing them properly is really really hard. A lot of software out there sucks, in part because there is more focus on marketing than on correctness and reliability.
If roads had the same quality as software then traffic deaths would be an order of magnitude higher.
Try working on a library used in tech that your life depends on and you might re-consider your road metaphor.
Kind of sad to see people hating on this for using FFmpeg behind the scenes. So what? You've created value here by solving the problem of ffmpeg having no user-friendly GUI, which is not easy. Congrats on the launch!