Originally ß was just a ligature for ss (ſs) but it since developed its own meaning. ß indicates that the preceding vowel is long. Busse and Buße are pronounced

Originally ß was just a ligature for ss (ſs) but it since developed its own meaning. ß indicates that the preceding vowel is long. Busse and Buße are pronounced differently and mean different things. The conversion ß -> ss destroys information that was present in the original orthography.