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I'm quite sick of some of the attitudes I see on HN sometimes around "closed source" like it's some evil thing. Proprietary software generally leaves society w

by uiri 10y ago

I'm quite sick of some of the attitudes I see on HN sometimes around "closed source" like it's some evil thing. Proprietary software generally leaves society worse off than if that same software were free and open source. In that sense, it is some evil thing. It's not, people have to eat, have to pay rent, have to support their families There are plenty of people who think of stripping, porn and prostitution as some evil thing. The argument that strippers, porn actors/actresses and prostitutes need to eat, pay rent, etc. does not detract from that. However, I do not think that there should be laws against porn nor against proprietary software. I do agree with you that it is much easier to find a job doing proprietary software development. I would be a hypocrite if I suggested that people should not take those jobs. Companies will fund open source if and only if it furthers their business objectives. You are correct in saying that open source projects are, in general, woefully underfunded and the open source company success stories are few and far between. I would like to think that the "closed source software is evil" crowd is mutually exclusive to the "fawning over SV unicorn" crowd. Focus on being good at what you do and if that happens in public on GitHub/GitLab/etc then all the better but don't bend over backwards to make your profile look good at the expense of actually knowing your shit. I agree. If you happen to do good work on GitHub, it can give you a leg up. Any effort poured into making one's profile "look good" is probably better spent actually doing good work or, failing that, studying for those silly data structures & algorithms whiteboard questions.

joshstrange 10y ago
> I'm quite sick of some of the attitudes I see on HN sometimes around "closed source" like it's some evil thing. >> Proprietary software generally leaves society worse off than if that same software were free and open source. In that sense, it is some evil thing. I can agree with that but it also must follow that the choice is "closed" or "open" when often the choice is "closed" or not at all. It reminds me of the piracy arguments that equate 1 downloaded movie to 1 lost movie sale when in fact if the pirate was unable to download it for free they would not have paid for it at all and just gone without >> I would like to think that the "closed source software is evil" crowd is mutually exclusive to the "fawning over SV unicorn" crowd. You are probably largely right here. I wouldn't go as far as to say "mutually exclusive" as it's easy for people to get caught up in the hype of the moment and chide someone for not OS'ing something or complaining that more stuff should be OS minutes after they commented about how great Uber/Lyft are (or similar). I know that I have, at times, felt the "righteous anger" against something being closed source or been ready to jump on the commenting bandwagon before stopping to think about it.
CamperBob2 10y ago
Proprietary software generally leaves society worse off than if that same software were free and open source. In that sense, it is some evil thing. The correct counterfactual to argue is, would the software exist at all if it weren't proprietary? Usually the answer is a resounding "No."
st3v3r 10y ago
"Proprietary software generally leaves society worse off than if that same software were free and open source. In that sense, it is some evil thing." No, it does not.

by uiri 10y ago

joshstrange 10y ago

> I'm quite sick of some of the attitudes I see on HN sometimes around "closed source" like it's some evil thing. >> Proprietary software generally leaves society worse off than if that same software were free and open source. In that sense, it is some evil thing. I can agree with that but it also must follow that the choice is "closed" or "open" when often the choice is "closed" or not at all. It reminds me of the piracy arguments that equate 1 downloaded movie to 1 lost movie sale when in fact if the pirate was unable to download it for free they would not have paid for it at all and just gone without >> I would like to think that the "closed source software is evil" crowd is mutually exclusive to the "fawning over SV unicorn" crowd. You are probably largely right here. I wouldn't go as far as to say "mutually exclusive" as it's easy for people to get caught up in the hype of the moment and chide someone for not OS'ing something or complaining that more stuff should be OS minutes after they commented about how great Uber/Lyft are (or similar). I know that I have, at times, felt the "righteous anger" against something being closed source or been ready to jump on the commenting bandwagon before stopping to think about it.

CamperBob2 10y ago

Proprietary software generally leaves society worse off than if that same software were free and open source. In that sense, it is some evil thing. The correct counterfactual to argue is, would the software exist at all if it weren't proprietary? Usually the answer is a resounding "No."

st3v3r 10y ago

"Proprietary software generally leaves society worse off than if that same software were free and open source. In that sense, it is some evil thing." No, it does not.