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> If you can’t sell software you have to monetize in other ways. If you can't sell software and have to monetize it somehow, sure you can steal user data. But

by rixed 5y ago

> If you can’t sell software you have to monetize in other ways. If you can't sell software and have to monetize it somehow, sure you can steal user data. But you can also steal user data even if you sell the software, as has been demonstrated many times. Only authors who have no intend to monetize the software could really be trusted.

api 5y ago
The ability to directly sell software is necessary but not sufficient to enable a software ecosystem that is not about exploiting the user. That's why I mentioned forcing functions. Once "free" became the norm, it became impossible to even think about doing anything else. The door to conventional honest business models was closed for most software authors and vendors. The notion of all software actually being free is a fantasy, unless you are talking only about software that can only be used by nerds. The amount of effort required to make software usable by the general public is absolutely massive. Then throw in constant UI changes, ecosystem changes, and supporting a lot of targets. In general once the app basically works you are 10% done. The other 90% of the effort is UI/UX.