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Being Thankful for Free Software Developers

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Re: Being Thankful for Free Software Developers

#21

Post by bumblebeard »

peterwwillis wrote: post #17

Free non-commercial and non-free commercial software are both wildly different products in practice. I installed some package recently that fucked with my X config, or my kernel modules, I don't know. But my hybrid graphics is now fucked and I have crazy artifacts all over my screen. The default install of this distro does not result in a working config, and I had to spend three days to figure out the insane set of s…

Hybrid graphics likely depends on a proprietary driver to work so that's probably where the problem lies. As for the RAM, you might just need to expand your swap partition so its the same size in order for hibernation to work.

And really, this has nothing to do with free software; there are even more horror stories like this about Windows and macOS and those are both proprietary systems.

Re: Being Thankful for Free Software Developers

#22

Post by peterwwillis »

michaelmrose wrote: post #18
peterwwillis wrote: post #17

Free non-commercial and non-free commercial software are both wildly different products in practice. I installed some package recently that fucked with my X config, or my kernel modules, I don't know. But my hybrid graphics is now fucked and I have crazy artifacts all over my screen. The default install of this distro does not result in a working config, and I had to spend three days to figure out the insane set of s…

Windows support is provided by the manufacturer of the laptop. Linux support is provided by a finite supply of free labor. Instead of whining that not enough volunteers provided free labor to make whatever laptop you already invested in work better perhaps buy machines that are well supported or even better ones which come with Linux. This approach has worked well for me for 14 years.

Or I can buy a machine which is not only supported, but actually works, with basic features and quality testing baked in. But that's not the point.

The point is that free software devs asking for a thank-you is like a dog owner asking for a thank-you when you don't step in their dog poop on the sidewalk. They weren't walking the dog for my benefit, and I'm not going to thank them for getting to walk around their crap.

Re: Being Thankful for Free Software Developers

#23

Post by peterwwillis »

bumblebeard wrote: post #21
peterwwillis wrote: post #17

Free non-commercial and non-free commercial software are both wildly different products in practice. I installed some package recently that fucked with my X config, or my kernel modules, I don't know. But my hybrid graphics is now fucked and I have crazy artifacts all over my screen. The default install of this distro does not result in a working config, and I had to spend three days to figure out the insane set of s…

Hybrid graphics likely depends on a proprietary driver to work so that's probably where the problem lies. As for the RAM, you might just need to expand your swap partition so its the same size in order for hibernation to work. And really, this has nothing to do with free software; there are even more horror stories like this about Windows and macOS and those are both proprietary systems.

The problem lies in commercial companies not making free software. But since they don't, what you're left with is non-commercial free software, which in practice is worse than the alternative. Free software is broken, and you can fix it. Commercial software works, but you can't fix it.

Re: Being Thankful for Free Software Developers

#24

Post by benchaney »

peterwwillis wrote: post #22
michaelmrose wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows support is provided by the manufacturer of the laptop. Linux support is provided by a finite supply of free labor. Instead of whining that not enough volunteers provided free labor to make whatever laptop you already invested in work better perhaps buy machines that are well supported or even better ones which come with Linux. This approach has worked well for me for 14 years.

Or I can buy a machine which is not only supported, but actually works, with basic features and quality testing baked in. But that's not the point. The point is that free software devs asking for a thank-you is like a dog owner asking for a thank-you when you don't step in their dog poop on the sidewalk. They weren't walking the dog for my benefit, and I'm not going to thank them for getting to walk around their crap…

> Or I can buy a machine which is not only supported, but actually works

lol

Re: Being Thankful for Free Software Developers

#25

Post by throw2016 »

It's a huge generational gift, and people should now be concerned about how to sustain the free software movement. There is clearly an ongoing shift from a generation of 'starry eyed' ideologues to hired open source developers.

Some may argue that's moving forward but it's diminished in many ways by losing its core essence and 'motivation' to exist.

Companies can contribute by open source by supporting developers and projects without seeking influence by hiring or acquiring them. But then many don't even bother doing that.

We need to find a way to develop a ecosystem that has sustenance from businesses and especially individuals and yet leaves the developers and projects 'independent'. Leaving it to sort itself out has already led to a sort of centralization and will eventually lead to loss of control and accountability.

Re: Being Thankful for Free Software Developers

#26

Post by michaelmrose »

peterwwillis wrote: post #22
michaelmrose wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows support is provided by the manufacturer of the laptop. Linux support is provided by a finite supply of free labor. Instead of whining that not enough volunteers provided free labor to make whatever laptop you already invested in work better perhaps buy machines that are well supported or even better ones which come with Linux. This approach has worked well for me for 14 years.

Or I can buy a machine which is not only supported, but actually works, with basic features and quality testing baked in. But that's not the point. The point is that free software devs asking for a thank-you is like a dog owner asking for a thank-you when you don't step in their dog poop on the sidewalk. They weren't walking the dog for my benefit, and I'm not going to thank them for getting to walk around their crap…

What is wrong with your skewed perspective

Re: Being Thankful for Free Software Developers

#27

Post by makecheck »

jancsika wrote: post #14

> It means that someone has just donated hundreds of hours of work for you. Free of charge! I think that misses something of the ethos of free software. It's not like somebody donating their valuable time to work in a soup kitchen. It's much more like somebody too lazy to spend thirty seconds doing a menial task like everyone else, so they instead spend three months creating a program that automates that thirty secon…

I for one have spent over 20 years continually expanding my application, as free GPL software, and I stopped counting the hours long ago.

It is a gigantic amount of effort to design non-trivial software. Heck, just keeping everything stable and up-to-date is a project in itself (periodically having to adopt modern platform APIs, for instance).

And usually I receive very little feedback. I can see downloads in the thousands and I doubt I've had more than a few E-mails a year.

You might be misled by the tendency for people to hack random things together and dump them on GitHub, never to be touched again.

Re: Being Thankful for Free Software Developers

#29

Post by poopoopoopoo »

peterwwillis wrote: post #22
michaelmrose wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows support is provided by the manufacturer of the laptop. Linux support is provided by a finite supply of free labor. Instead of whining that not enough volunteers provided free labor to make whatever laptop you already invested in work better perhaps buy machines that are well supported or even better ones which come with Linux. This approach has worked well for me for 14 years.

Or I can buy a machine which is not only supported, but actually works, with basic features and quality testing baked in. But that's not the point. The point is that free software devs asking for a thank-you is like a dog owner asking for a thank-you when you don't step in their dog poop on the sidewalk. They weren't walking the dog for my benefit, and I'm not going to thank them for getting to walk around their crap…

Unlike Windows which as a paid product has always been and still is perfectly free of dog shit?

Re: Being Thankful for Free Software Developers

#30

Post by detaro »

jancsika wrote: post #14

> It means that someone has just donated hundreds of hours of work for you. Free of charge! I think that misses something of the ethos of free software. It's not like somebody donating their valuable time to work in a soup kitchen. It's much more like somebody too lazy to spend thirty seconds doing a menial task like everyone else, so they instead spend three months creating a program that automates that thirty secon…

I wonder what "30s menial task" the writers of Apache, the Linux kernel, Blender, … tried to avoid?
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