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> prove that folks just don’t want to work on those problems for free Well, some people do want to work on such problems for free, even if not everyone does.

> prove that folks just don’t want to work on those problems for free Well, some people do want to work on such problems for free, even if not everyone does. > Maybe even abandoning software altogether and making things mechanical again? There are some advantages to such a thing, since computers are overused for many things. However, a computer is still useful for many things; mechanical isn't better for everything. > Not that computing is perfectly green, but how would that work out for the environment? That I don't know, but should probably be considered too. However, often companies put too much extra stuff in computer programs that is used even if you do not want it, which also wastes energy. > Personally I’d love to see a world where intellectual property just wasn’t a thing… I agree to abolish copyright/patents (although trademarks can be useful, but still there are things that should not be sued for trademark infringement, so it still needs to be fixed due to this). But, there are also ways to go part way toward abolishing copyrights and patents; Question Copyright had some ideas. Another idea would be limiting their scope so that if it has freedom then it can be ignored, or to be ignored for practical works, to limit durations, other changes, etc. Another idea would be that if you declare yourself exempt then you can neither claim copyright or patents on anything but neither can be sued or arrested for it, either. However, I think it would be much better to abolish copyright and patent laws entirely.

chefandy 5y ago
“Well, some people do want to work on such problems for free, even if not everyone does.“ It’s not whether anyone does, it’s whether enough people do. In FOSS I don’t see evidence of any large project getting significant usability work for free. Firefox, likely the most popular user-facing FOSS application, it’s essentially adware via a nonprofit. Blender’s foundation has significant support from corporations. There are people working on those problems for FOSS but they’re likely paid, and that’s just not feasible for most FOSS. Also, freeness in our society can have unintended consequences— the way news organizations are forced to operate because they can’t easily be directly compensated for their work (because people expect it to be free) is a huge problem. I can’t imagine software being any different in today’s context. Beyond that, most FOSS is entirely developer-managed and project decisions reflect that bias. To this day, many folks think the only problem with git’s interface is its users unwillingness to read the documentation. Literally zero people who aren’t software developers— including the copywriters, project managers, designers, support people, etc. who end up also having to use it— would agree. There are certainly usability advantages with many hardware applications over software replacements but being able to use generic logic hardware to control things is a pretty huge advantage. Most folks don’t realize how resource-intensive manufacturing is. I haven’t run the numbers, but I’ll bet a few extra PCBs would equal a whole lot of software bloat. Hardware is also vastly less flexible, and as a result would probably be significantly less efficient to create. I haven’t run any numbers though. I often advocate for drastically scaling back copyrights— especially in media and software. Their current state is absurd. Forgive my hyperbole to emphasize the dichotomy: Abolishing software patents, however, seems like fighting America’s imperialist behaviors by demanding an immediate disarmament of the country, entirely. I’d love that if our world was in a state that could facilitate that without immediately being overtaken by China… that wouldn’t be better for anybody.

chefandy 5y ago

“Well, some people do want to work on such problems for free, even if not everyone does.“ It’s not whether anyone does, it’s whether enough people do. In FOSS I don’t see evidence of any large project getting significant usability work for free. Firefox, likely the most popular user-facing FOSS application, it’s essentially adware via a nonprofit. Blender’s foundation has significant support from corporations. There are people working on those problems for FOSS but they’re likely paid, and that’s just not feasible for most FOSS. Also, freeness in our society can have unintended consequences— the way news organizations are forced to operate because they can’t easily be directly compensated for their work (because people expect it to be free) is a huge problem. I can’t imagine software being any different in today’s context. Beyond that, most FOSS is entirely developer-managed and project decisions reflect that bias. To this day, many folks think the only problem with git’s interface is its users unwillingness to read the documentation. Literally zero people who aren’t software developers— including the copywriters, project managers, designers, support people, etc. who end up also having to use it— would agree. There are certainly usability advantages with many hardware applications over software replacements but being able to use generic logic hardware to control things is a pretty huge advantage. Most folks don’t realize how resource-intensive manufacturing is. I haven’t run the numbers, but I’ll bet a few extra PCBs would equal a whole lot of software bloat. Hardware is also vastly less flexible, and as a result would probably be significantly less efficient to create. I haven’t run any numbers though. I often advocate for drastically scaling back copyrights— especially in media and software. Their current state is absurd. Forgive my hyperbole to emphasize the dichotomy: Abolishing software patents, however, seems like fighting America’s imperialist behaviors by demanding an immediate disarmament of the country, entirely. I’d love that if our world was in a state that could facilitate that without immediately being overtaken by China… that wouldn’t be better for anybody.