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You are not alone with this opinion. It has to be free software (free speech, not free beer).
by ohlookarabbit 7y ago
You are not alone with this opinion. It has to be free software (free speech, not free beer).
- bigfudge 7y agoI'm in this boat too, having bought lots of software but been burned by products disappearing/being neglected. In buying sftware, in my experience, the real cost is in my time learing/mastering it. The ultimate example here is a text editor. If sublime was free as in speech I would still be paying to use it. As it is, I lost confidence that team could maintain it long term and have switched to Atom. What good models are there for free speech consumer/individual developer software to actually make money?
- ohlookabird 7y agoIn my experience of the last few years working as a senior software engineer in both public and private research institutions, one way to do free software development professionally is this: Find a niche in a research field and try to work in either research labs, scientific computing departments or get a maintenance grant from a foundation (e.g. CZI). Maybe I am lucky, but it seems that FLOSS is generally welcomed and the trend goes to more support. It also provides you ways to communicate on conferences, etc talking directly to many users (researchers).