4 ms·
Micropayments just repeat the same old mistake of applying individualistic solutions to problems that can only be addressed collectively. We need a trade organ
by alangibson 5y ago
Micropayments just repeat the same old mistake of applying individualistic solutions to problems that can only be addressed collectively.
We need a trade organization like the RIAA that collects and distributes royalties from profitable business for developers.
- tpoacher 5y agothe two seem orthogonal issues. a foss collective could act as the enforcer of the openfare license, sure.
- alangibson 5y agoI see the issue as 'how do we get resources to OSS contributors'. Micropayments will never be more than a pittance as long as it has to compete with "free"
- rndhouse 5y agoFor a user of the software, free might have downsides that micropayment-funded-at-scale might not have. If all users chip in $1/month, perhaps it adds up to something significant. I think the challenge is to minimize the overhead costs of that process.
- watwut 5y agoThat would turn open source into trick and bait fraud. What about ... slapping license you are actually ok with. It is 100% fine to sell software for money, closed source, open source, free software and completely restricted.
- alangibson 5y ago> That would turn open source into trick and bait fraud. That's not possible. It would all have to be clearly stated in the license. > What about ... slapping license you are actually ok with. You would have to slap on a licence saying the trade org represents you, etc.
- watwut 5y agoThe whole debate is about open source with licenses that do in fact allow corporations to legally use it for free. And open source advocates of the past spent a lot of effort ensuring them it is so. There are licenses that don't allow such thing. And afaik, corporations avoid those libraries or pay for alternative license. The people however don't complain about these.