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> Wait, what? Why should governments step in to back FOSS? Because we all profit from it and there is little market incentive to back them. The government fund

by madez 9y ago

> Wait, what? Why should governments step in to back FOSS? Because we all profit from it and there is little market incentive to back them. The government funds museums, mathematics and a lot of other things for less reasons compared to FOSS. > The city of Munich tried to switch to Linux. They did switch to a GNU/Linux system. It is hard to be different when everybody around you isn't. There were interoperability issues with other bodies. This is one more reason why the government needs to step in to not only fund FOSS but to legally require open formats. Also, FOSS needs to be taught in schools.

analognoise 9y ago
We don't all profit from it, it's a total distraction for most people. I can't believe the amount of time I've wasted on Linux just trying to get my sound card to work, or a printer. Or I could just buy Windows. FOSS has a lot of "me too" and "reinvent the wheel" as well, to the point of distraction. At this point I think it's borderline useless outside of compilers and scientific computing. Also, I really wouldn't waste children's time on FOSS. "Here's how to spend a week on Stack Overflow fixing your printer" is not a core subject.
- madez 9y ago
  > We don't all profit from it, it's a total distraction for most people. Collectively we do, just like we do from mathematics or museums. Also, imagine what the FOSS ecosystem could be if the underlying technologies where funded by governments around the world. > I can't believe the amount of time I've wasted on Linux just trying to get my sound card to work, or a printer. First, if these issues exist, then that is one more reason to fund it. Second, when did you try a modern distribution the last time? It has been a long time since I had problems like that. Usually, when I buy hardware and it doesn't work with free driver I send it back because it's non-functional in my eyes. It's very rare that I need to do that. > Also, I really wouldn't waste children's time on FOSS. "Here's how to spend a week on Stack Overflow fixing your printer" is not a core subject. Cleary, the hypothetical printer issue is not what should be tought. Good upstream support is the manufacturer problem, and regulation for labels of driver support would help a lot. What should be thought are not specific programs but programming and the value of FOSS. Maybe, a few selected and curated and sufficiently funded FOSS programs can be presented to show how common problems could be solved.

by madez 9y ago

analognoise 9y ago

We don't all profit from it, it's a total distraction for most people. I can't believe the amount of time I've wasted on Linux just trying to get my sound card to work, or a printer. Or I could just buy Windows. FOSS has a lot of "me too" and "reinvent the wheel" as well, to the point of distraction. At this point I think it's borderline useless outside of compilers and scientific computing. Also, I really wouldn't waste children's time on FOSS. "Here's how to spend a week on Stack Overflow fixing your printer" is not a core subject.

madez 9y ago
> We don't all profit from it, it's a total distraction for most people. Collectively we do, just like we do from mathematics or museums. Also, imagine what the FOSS ecosystem could be if the underlying technologies where funded by governments around the world. > I can't believe the amount of time I've wasted on Linux just trying to get my sound card to work, or a printer. First, if these issues exist, then that is one more reason to fund it. Second, when did you try a modern distribution the last time? It has been a long time since I had problems like that. Usually, when I buy hardware and it doesn't work with free driver I send it back because it's non-functional in my eyes. It's very rare that I need to do that. > Also, I really wouldn't waste children's time on FOSS. "Here's how to spend a week on Stack Overflow fixing your printer" is not a core subject. Cleary, the hypothetical printer issue is not what should be tought. Good upstream support is the manufacturer problem, and regulation for labels of driver support would help a lot. What should be thought are not specific programs but programming and the value of FOSS. Maybe, a few selected and curated and sufficiently funded FOSS programs can be presented to show how common problems could be solved.