Being Thankful for Free Software Developers • Hacker News Board

Re: Being Thankful for Free Software Developers

#101

Post by Asooka » Mon, Aug 14, 2017, 7:32 PM UTC

marrs wrote: post #66

Asooka wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So what all these guys need is a separate FOSS organisation exclusively dedicated to fund-raising. I'm afraid that such an organisation will gradually be taken over by people looking to make money more than to help open-source software, and in the end we'll end up worse off than not having anything, because most donations to that organisation will get used for "internal expenses".

I think this attitude is holding FOSS back. The most successful projects are the ones that are funded: Linux, Blender, and Ubuntu to name 3. On the other hand we have projects like Gimp, which steadily makes excellent progress and gets better with every release, but the rate of change is glacial because the team are all working on it in their spare time. That's not to say that the motivation of profit can't also be c…

It's fine when it's one project seeking funding for itself. When it's some umbrella org gathering funding for some nebulous "F/OSS community" that I start getting wary. I think it would be better if each large project could build within itself a framework for seeking funding, rather than one group seeking joint funding for everyone. That concentrates too much political power in one place leading to a higher chance of a takeover by unwanted people.

Re: Being Thankful for Free Software Developers

#102

Post by tajen » Mon, Aug 14, 2017, 8:55 PM UTC

thingamarobert wrote: post #50

As much as the introduction and the first two sections motivate the post, I think the last "Don't Just Feel Pleasure, Show It" section is the one that contains the main take-home message in my opinion. If one has benefited by using FOSS, one must acknowledge that it cannot get better and magically sustain itself without support from those who use it or appreciate the principles underlying the movement. The level of t…

- Is LE worth contributing for, given it's a joint Google initiative?

- FOSS really need to send out proper invoices, donations are a corporate risk and I have to spend time to my accountant to justify the necessity of donations, every year.

Re: Being Thankful for Free Software Developers

#103

Post by thingamarobert » Tue, Aug 15, 2017, 6:34 AM UTC

tajen wrote: post #102

thingamarobert wrote: post #50

As much as the introduction and the first two sections motivate the post, I think the last "Don't Just Feel Pleasure, Show It" section is the one that contains the main take-home message in my opinion. If one has benefited by using FOSS, one must acknowledge that it cannot get better and magically sustain itself without support from those who use it or appreciate the principles underlying the movement. The level of t…

- Is LE worth contributing for, given it's a joint Google initiative? - FOSS really need to send out proper invoices, donations are a corporate risk and I have to spend time to my accountant to justify the necessity of donations, every year.

I didn't realise that LE was a Google initiative. I know that it's supported by the Chrome project (and thus Google), but also by Mozilla, EFF and a lot of other supporters. Could you please point me to any article that discusses its Google affiliation? Thanks!

Re: Being Thankful for Free Software Developers

#104

Post by throwaway08320 » Tue, Aug 15, 2017, 10:36 AM UTC

b4ux1t3 wrote: post #97

throwaway08320 wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> mob of angry FOSS advocates I've been at DebConfs, FOSDEMs and other events and never met any these angry advocates. They seem to be mailing list / twitter trolls. > people like RMS who actively show disdain for proprietary software and those who use it Do you have sources to support the claim that RMS shows disdain for people using proprietary software?

Point 1: I take it you've never been on the receiving end of the "Oh, you use _Windoze_" comments. The fact that "M$ Windoze" exists as a meme is proof enough that there are enough people who show disdain for proprietary software that people took notice. Point 2: Do you mean besides his every day demeanor? Or besides his extensive essays on the evils of proprietary software that imply _strongly_ that people who use a…

In both points you conflated, again, disdain towards software and disdain towards users.

> I take it you've never been on the receiving end of the "Oh, you use _Windoze_" comments

Actually I did. Clearly those were not insults meant against me as a user. Just like stating "beer is disgusting" or "I hate Samsung" is not insulting me for my drink or monitor brand choices.

Re: Being Thankful for Free Software Developers

#105

Post by hueving » Wed, Aug 16, 2017, 4:43 PM UTC

wu-ikkyu wrote: post #75

candiodari wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly this is capitalism at it's finest. Working on open source projects by itself has rewards : 1) you probably use it, so you use it yourself and your own situation gets better. 2) you get the efforts of others in addition to your own because of the open source nature (e.g. your code gets maintained, fixed, reviewed, ...) 3) There are plenty of companies (Google, FB, Red Hat, ...) that will give you a great job b…

>this is capitalism at it's finest If by capitalism, you mean: >an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state. Then no, because FOSS is not private or for profit.

FOSS projects have to start out private for someone to be able to make the decision to open source them in the first place. If everything belonged to the state, you might end up having a pretty hard time convincing the state to allow other states to fork/use it.