4 ms·

Expiring licenses, arbitrary limits, crippled functionality, troubles with moving software between computers, publishers going under... this, much more than mon

by blfr 7y ago

zupa-hu 7y ago
Much more than money? 80% of your reasons are about money. :) /All but the last one./
- diffeomorphism 7y ago
  No. None of these have to do with money. A license expires and I am at the sellers mercy whether I am allowed to get it extended. If it were libre I could instead find someone else to give my money to and keep using it. I want to use my software for something else. Again, I can try offering the company money to allow me to, but if they say no I am out of luck. Instead I can pay whoever I like to implement the necessary changes for me. Crippled functionality. Again, I can pay someone else to uncripple it and the original manufacturer has to compete with the uncrippled version. Moving software. That is admittedly only about licensing and kinda unrelated, but similar to the first one. It is nice that libre software often also is gratis but that is just a nice bonus.
  - jmiserez 7y ago
    >Moving software Even if you have a perpetual license valid on any computer, it may still be impossible to move the license/software to different hardware, if you legally can't debug/reverse engineer it and pay someone to fix the incompatibility.
    - rovr138 7y ago
      Run a VM with the latest OS that can run the app. You then keep that machine offline or whitelist the required traffic. This is not isolated and there are ways of making it work.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
kjaftaedi 7y ago
Maybe you mean open source? None of what you describe is limited to free software. If software is free, someone still has to sacrifice to keep it up to date. If you're not paying money for it, publishers will get money in other ways like advertisements, or selling your data. Most apps cost less than the price of a single meal. People that see value in something but refuse to pay even the tiniest amounts will always be a cultural amazement to me.
- jmiserez 7y ago
  "Free software" as used by the parent poster (free as in freedom, not price), has a specific definition, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software It's a frequent source of confusion, which is why some people prefer other terms like libre software or FLOSS (free/libre open-source software).
- jstanley 7y ago
  "“Free software” means software that respects users' freedom and community. Roughly, it means that the users have the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. Thus, “free software” is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of “free” as in “free speech,” not as in “free beer”. We sometimes call it “libre software,” borrowing the French or Spanish word for “free” as in freedom, to show we do not mean the software is gratis. " https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
reaperducer 7y ago
Expiring licenses, arbitrary limits, crippled functionality, troubles with moving software between computers, publishers going under... this, much more than money, is why I stick to free software as much as possible. The problem extends beyond software. I had a home weather station from LaCrosse Technology that was supposed to provide internet-connected forecasts and alerts for a lifetime. It turns out LaCrosse didn't mean my lifetime, or the lifetime of the device, but more like the lifetime of a carnival goldfish.
- lonelappde 7y ago
  Is something wrong with the hardware or did they brick it with bad software?
Dolores12 7y ago
Having piles of old hardware i can not upgrade or use, your words make sense for me now.

by blfr 7y ago

zupa-hu 7y ago

Much more than money? 80% of your reasons are about money. :) /All but the last one./

diffeomorphism 7y ago
No. None of these have to do with money. A license expires and I am at the sellers mercy whether I am allowed to get it extended. If it were libre I could instead find someone else to give my money to and keep using it. I want to use my software for something else. Again, I can try offering the company money to allow me to, but if they say no I am out of luck. Instead I can pay whoever I like to implement the necessary changes for me. Crippled functionality. Again, I can pay someone else to uncripple it and the original manufacturer has to compete with the uncrippled version. Moving software. That is admittedly only about licensing and kinda unrelated, but similar to the first one. It is nice that libre software often also is gratis but that is just a nice bonus.
- jmiserez 7y ago
  >Moving software Even if you have a perpetual license valid on any computer, it may still be impossible to move the license/software to different hardware, if you legally can't debug/reverse engineer it and pay someone to fix the incompatibility.
  - rovr138 7y ago
    Run a VM with the latest OS that can run the app. You then keep that machine offline or whitelist the required traffic. This is not isolated and there are ways of making it work.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

kjaftaedi 7y ago

Maybe you mean open source? None of what you describe is limited to free software. If software is free, someone still has to sacrifice to keep it up to date. If you're not paying money for it, publishers will get money in other ways like advertisements, or selling your data. Most apps cost less than the price of a single meal. People that see value in something but refuse to pay even the tiniest amounts will always be a cultural amazement to me.

jmiserez 7y ago
"Free software" as used by the parent poster (free as in freedom, not price), has a specific definition, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software It's a frequent source of confusion, which is why some people prefer other terms like libre software or FLOSS (free/libre open-source software).
jstanley 7y ago
"“Free software” means software that respects users' freedom and community. Roughly, it means that the users have the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. Thus, “free software” is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of “free” as in “free speech,” not as in “free beer”. We sometimes call it “libre software,” borrowing the French or Spanish word for “free” as in freedom, to show we do not mean the software is gratis. " https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

reaperducer 7y ago

Expiring licenses, arbitrary limits, crippled functionality, troubles with moving software between computers, publishers going under... this, much more than money, is why I stick to free software as much as possible. The problem extends beyond software. I had a home weather station from LaCrosse Technology that was supposed to provide internet-connected forecasts and alerts for a lifetime. It turns out LaCrosse didn't mean my lifetime, or the lifetime of the device, but more like the lifetime of a carnival goldfish.

lonelappde 7y ago
Is something wrong with the hardware or did they brick it with bad software?

Dolores12 7y ago

Having piles of old hardware i can not upgrade or use, your words make sense for me now.