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Write some software, give it away for free

nonogra.ph

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Re: Write some software, give it away for free

#131

Post by gverrilla »

Free software vs paid software - doesn't even matter right now.

What matters is: billionaires and capital have full control, and increasingly more, of everything in our lifes. Throwing tantrums won't help either. What you need to do as a programmer is to get involved in social movements and politics and fight to change the world and to effectively shape the social adoption of new technologies.

Truth is most programmers were always mediocre. And most acted like they were superior to others - not strange with the high pays and utter success of ideology. Glad that's about to end.

If your imagination was ripped completely already, all I can say is: rip. You have the option to cry for the next years, and complain online, like a child, or you can step up your game - and make it multiplayer instead of this sad sad singleplayer.

Current society is devastating both the planet and crushing our souls. According to the most popular topic on HN of the last few days, most users from this bubble can't even talk to other people (calling them "strangers"). Sorry to say, but fuck your FOSS or your expert software - this is utter failure as humans. If we can't fix that, among other things, we're absolutely doomed.

Re: Write some software, give it away for free

#133

Post by utopiah »

SerCe wrote: post #37

Or don't. I've done both, published OSS projects and sold some software. The level of entitlement in some comments I received on the OSS side was pretty crazy at times. While with the paid software, all of the interactions I had were so much more constructive. YMMV, but willingness to pay is a great filter.

There are more than 2 ways to do OSS vs proprietary. You can do OSS and refuse all commits or even any comments, e.g. https://codeberg.org/y20k/escapepod/src/branch/master/CONTRI...

Using GPL or MIT or whatever open or free license you prefer does not mean it's OK to get bullied.

It's perfectly fine to not accept entitlement and still let others use or even build on your work, if you want to.

You have the freedom to shape the interactions you want even if nobody else does it this way.

Re: Write some software, give it away for free

#134

Post by AstroBen »

nohell wrote: post #124
AstroBen wrote: post #116

I wonder if you'd also be arguing for libre software to reject available funding? What's the difference? The Ruby on Rails foundation brings in a million per year: https://rubyonrails.org/foundation The Linux foundation is funded at around $250m / year from a quick Google search

Not at all. As a KDE Plasma user, I love and donate to open source. I'm arguing that the current climate of "vibe code a startup a day" is unsustainable, terrible, and should NOT be the thing people strive for. Instead of appeasing VC firms, that energy can be better spent on passion projects or contributing to other open-source projects like KDE / Linux / GrapheneOS / etc..

They're different goals though. Someone selling software is doing it to put a roof over their heads and money in their retirement accounts. If you straight up replace that with working on passion projects and giving them away you get.. homeless people.

I'm not sure the starving artist is an ideal to strive for, either. Surely there's a middle ground?

Obsidian's model seems fair: https://obsidian.md/pricing

JetBrains' lifetime "subscription" which gets locked at the version you paid for seems fair to me

I don't see why you can't work on something you're passionate about and make money from it. For those of us not retired, the money is essential to make it sustainable.

Re: Write some software, give it away for free

#135

Post by OldSchool »

This has always confounded me when presented as a first choice when developing something with value. I can't think of any other fields with so much practical value where all participants are practically shamed for not giving away something that is identical to their most commercially valuable skill.

Most of my life has been financed by closed source products I developed on my own to fill a real need and others had it too. Had I given them away, the best I could have hoped for was what, a job offer?

Re: Write some software, give it away for free

#136

Post by dlenski »

> If software development is treated as a vehicle for self-exploration, rather than just a means to a financial end, this makes a lot more sense. From my experience, it also generally produces better software that doesn't come with user hostile (value extracting) actions or features because there's no expectation of a financial return.

I strongly identify with all of this. I started programming computers when I was about 7, so now I've been doing it for decades.

I sort of accidentally made it a career for a few years, because I was really good at it, but I didn't like being a professional software developer for a huge tech company.

I still like writing code though, and view it primarily as a means for exploration, figuring out how things work and explaining and systematizing them for myself and for others.

Re: Write some software, give it away for free

#137

Post by hdgvhicv »

DANmode wrote: post #99
latexr wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s no cost to me to stop an entitled disruptive user with zero positive contributions from destabilising the project. No cost to my volunteers either. The opposite is true in both cases; removing that user is a net benefit and I’ve done so in the past specifically to protect the experience of the volunteers. As for tokens, there have been exactly zero cases where someone has submitted LLM code to one of my repos…

> There’s no cost to me to stop an entitled disruptive user with zero positive contributions from destabilising the project. Having to spend time reviewing a PR or issue is “no cost”? I’m not convinced yet. > As for tokens I did not mean LLM contributions…I meant using AI tools to automate the reviews of contributions and users you seem to think cost no time or attention, but I do..

Why would you have to “review a pr or issue”?

You can choose to

Or you can choose to ignore them

Re: Write some software, give it away for free

#138

Post by nesarkvechnep »

dlenski wrote: post #136

> If software development is treated as a vehicle for self-exploration, rather than just a means to a financial end, this makes a lot more sense. From my experience, it also generally produces better software that doesn't come with user hostile (value extracting) actions or features because there's no expectation of a financial return. I strongly identify with all of this. I started programming computers when I was a…

What do you do now? I’m just curious.

Re: Write some software, give it away for free

#139

Post by hdgvhicv »

globalnode wrote: post #83
zx8080 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's possible to say we don't have personal colputers anymore, they are MS/Apple/Google's device now, as they decide what it is allowed to run and what isn't.

linux

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance

Just because we’ve spent he last 30 years running Linux and not worrying about the nonsense in the wider computer world doesn’t mean we’ll be able to do the same for he next 30 years

The era of the hacker, the ethos of free software, it’s mostly over. In the 80s and 90s people could get jobs and write software on the side, Just for fun.

Today it’s all about side hustles.

Re: Write some software, give it away for free

#140

Post by sevenzero »

Great read, explains the issues I have with modern software well. As a matter of fact I am planning to release an App on the Google Playstore just so my mom can use it and has an easier time of installing it. The server is about 15€/month but I dont really care about the expenses. I just want her to have an easier time.
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