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The "we want to make money" argument is pretty weak when desktop software like Ardour demonstrates that it's still possible and feasible. The "we don't want to
by yellowapple 5y ago
The "we want to make money" argument is pretty weak when desktop software like Ardour demonstrates that it's still possible and feasible.
The "we don't want to be stuck with a too-permissive license" argument is also pretty weak when there are a lot of licenses besides MIT (and when they, being the copyright holders, can relicense at any time; sure, the cat's out of the bag for already-released code, but for future versions that ain't necessarily the case).
- Turing_Machine 5y agoOne counterexample doesn't make an argument "weak", if there are thousands of cases to the contrary. About what percentage of FOSS developers do you suppose make a living wage from their software? It's like pointing to a successful pop singer or pro athlete as an example of how it's possible to get rich doing those things. Possible? Certainly -- but only a minuscule percentage of the kids who start out in sports or music ever make it.
- yellowapple 5y ago> One counterexample doesn't make an argument "weak", if there are thousands of cases to the contrary. Are there "thousands of cases to the contrary", though? About what percentage of FOSS developers do you suppose even try making payment a prerequisite for a ready-to-run official binary? Or for that matter, about what percentage even attempts to monetize at all? That's what makes the argument weak: it reeks strongly of "we've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas".