Software is weird because it is expected that should be free (as in beer) for most consumers while while being for profit and giving high salaries to its workers. I struggle to think of any other privately owned sector of the economy that works that way.
The Hitchiker's Guide already had a rant about useless jobs like telephone sanitisers and hairdressers. While I don't necessarily agree with hairdressers being useless, I feel like much of the economy is selling stuff no one really needs to solve problems no one really has in order to justify one's employment, and that share is increasing as automation scales the useful things with proportionately less effort. That's…
Imagine telling 2010 devs that in 2025, collapsing a div would require $8/ month
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Re: Imagine telling 2010 devs that in 2025, collapsing a div would require $8/ month
#52Software is weird because it is expected that should be free (as in beer) for most consumers while while being for profit and giving high salaries to its workers. I struggle to think of any other privately owned sector of the economy that works that way.
The Hitchiker's Guide already had a rant about useless jobs like telephone sanitisers and hairdressers. While I don't necessarily agree with hairdressers being useless, I feel like much of the economy is selling stuff no one really needs to solve problems no one really has in order to justify one's employment, and that share is increasing as automation scales the useful things with proportionately less effort. That's…
Re: Imagine telling 2010 devs that in 2025, collapsing a div would require $8/ month
#53You know people like to complain about things and how everything is worse these days, but this is exactly how shareware operated back in the day.
Re: Imagine telling 2010 devs that in 2025, collapsing a div would require $8/ month
#54Re: Imagine telling 2010 devs that in 2025, collapsing a div would require $8/ month
#55Software is weird because it is expected that should be free (as in beer) for most consumers while while being for profit and giving high salaries to its workers. I struggle to think of any other privately owned sector of the economy that works that way.
Shoppers expect shopping carts at a supermarket to be free, but you still have for-profit factories that employ many people to produce shopping carts that they sell for-profit to supermarkets. Do you also struggle to understand how that works?
Re: Imagine telling 2010 devs that in 2025, collapsing a div would require $8/ month
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m in a hobby band, and Spotify is important but we’ve made absolutely nothing from it with a few thousand listens. 50 people buy our album digitally and we have enough to record another track.
That's good to know. Yeah, I think Spotify is great for discovering new bands, but if you want them to keep going you gotta chip in. We need more than just the same top 40 artists in our world.
But you are right if you want it to succeed then you need to chip in. We sell an album for £7 digitally, or £30 for vinyl + digital, but it’s basically just donating to us to say “please keep recording stuff”. We’ve made more off selling a single vinyl than all our combined streaming income
Re: Imagine telling 2010 devs that in 2025, collapsing a div would require $8/ month
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Hitchiker's Guide already had a rant about useless jobs like telephone sanitisers and hairdressers. While I don't necessarily agree with hairdressers being useless, I feel like much of the economy is selling stuff no one really needs to solve problems no one really has in order to justify one's employment, and that share is increasing as automation scales the useful things with proportionately less effort. That's…
The point of that rant was the culture that got rid of the telephone sanitizers was subsequently wiped out by communicable disease. A lesson we still struggle with…
Re: Imagine telling 2010 devs that in 2025, collapsing a div would require $8/ month
#58Re: Imagine telling 2010 devs that in 2025, collapsing a div would require $8/ month
#59Software is weird because it is expected that should be free (as in beer) for most consumers while while being for profit and giving high salaries to its workers. I struggle to think of any other privately owned sector of the economy that works that way.
Mathematicians aren’t expected to be paid royalties when someone uses their discoveries. Paying to lease a server or for access it, sure, but software itself? It’s nonsense.
Re: Imagine telling 2010 devs that in 2025, collapsing a div would require $8/ month
#60Software is weird because it is expected that should be free (as in beer) for most consumers while while being for profit and giving high salaries to its workers. I struggle to think of any other privately owned sector of the economy that works that way.
> Software is weird because it is expected that should be free (as in beer) for most consumers while while being for profit and giving high salaries to its workers. Shoppers expect shopping carts at a supermarket to be free, but you still have for-profit factories that employ many people to produce shopping carts that they sell for-profit to supermarkets. Do you also struggle to understand how that works?
I don't think consumer expectations matter that much when they don't have a free alternative.