4 ms·

This is why I sort of hate open source. Slack is doing a great job, their prices are right. So why is it OK to destroy that? With what is going to be not as

This is why I sort of hate open source. Slack is doing a great job, their prices are right. So why is it OK to destroy that? With what is going to be not as good stuff? I'll get down voted to hell but come on. It's cheap, it's good, so why not let the guy make a living? And for the record I don't even know who the guy is (or woman is). I just hate the "it's cool, lets rip it off attitude". Because the ripoff is rarely better than the original.

BlahBoy3 11y ago
So you have a problem with open source putting out alternatives, but you're perfectly fine with the free market, in which companies put out competing products all the time? I'm not trying to start a flame war here, I'm just curious as to why you think that a community of programmers working together to develop a competing product is any worse than a company like HipChat doing the same thing. I, for one, welcome this kind of collaboration.
mmel 11y ago
Do you really hate open source? or is that just an exaggeration? I find it hard to believe anyone could actually hate open source.
- luckydude 11y ago
  Nah, I use open source every day, I've contributed to it. I just don't like that as soon as something becomes popular then it's a target. It's always bothered me that open source seems to copy more than innovate. I'm sure there are open source projects that invented something new but it's hard to think of them (for me at least). But I can think of zillions of copies of closed source things (linux, gcc, etc). In the case of slack, it seems sort of mean spirited to try and clone it. They give it away for free for most people and charge for some sort of extra functionality and it's cheap, $7 or $8/month/person. I can understand something like Postgres, Oracle is expensive and cumbersome. But slack? Really? For the record I have no connection to the slack people, don't know them other than what I've read in the press.
moonshinefe 11y ago
How is open source 'destroying' anything? Last I heard Microsoft was considering buying Slack for billions of dollars. I don't think they're destroyed. In fact, I'd consider any open source alternatives to Slack to be fair game on an open market, and the massive underdog at this point.

BlahBoy3 11y ago

So you have a problem with open source putting out alternatives, but you're perfectly fine with the free market, in which companies put out competing products all the time? I'm not trying to start a flame war here, I'm just curious as to why you think that a community of programmers working together to develop a competing product is any worse than a company like HipChat doing the same thing. I, for one, welcome this kind of collaboration.

mmel 11y ago

Do you really hate open source? or is that just an exaggeration? I find it hard to believe anyone could actually hate open source.

luckydude 11y ago
Nah, I use open source every day, I've contributed to it. I just don't like that as soon as something becomes popular then it's a target. It's always bothered me that open source seems to copy more than innovate. I'm sure there are open source projects that invented something new but it's hard to think of them (for me at least). But I can think of zillions of copies of closed source things (linux, gcc, etc). In the case of slack, it seems sort of mean spirited to try and clone it. They give it away for free for most people and charge for some sort of extra functionality and it's cheap, $7 or $8/month/person. I can understand something like Postgres, Oracle is expensive and cumbersome. But slack? Really? For the record I have no connection to the slack people, don't know them other than what I've read in the press.

moonshinefe 11y ago

How is open source 'destroying' anything? Last I heard Microsoft was considering buying Slack for billions of dollars. I don't think they're destroyed. In fact, I'd consider any open source alternatives to Slack to be fair game on an open market, and the massive underdog at this point.