8 ms·

> Having pro versions where you can change colors defeats the idea of open source Do you have any other ways the developer can make a living? AFAIK the pro fe

by ffpip 4y ago

> Having pro versions where you can change colors defeats the idea of open source Do you have any other ways the developer can make a living? AFAIK the pro features (excluding the closed source 3rd party SDKs) are all open source. You can build them on your own or download it off F-Droid.

metalliqaz 4y ago
I am an oss dev. I make a living at my day job.
- mburee 4y ago
  Exactly, if you don't want to develop open source software, just don't do it
  - cinntaile 4y ago
    It doesn't mean you have to do it for free, even if you develop open source software.
  - phalangion 4y ago
    And if you don’t like how someone manages their open source software, don’t use it.
    - teknopaul 4y ago
      That's what peeps here are recommending. Save yourself a download if you are used to the normal OS model.
- djbusby 4y ago
  Not every developer has a day job.
  - cortesoft 4y ago
    If they want to make money from their programming, they should get one.
    - vorpalhex 4y ago
      If you want nice software, you should use your day job money and support the people who make it.
      - cortesoft 4y ago
        I contribute to open source by writing it and participating in the community, not by spending dollars.
        notyourday 4y ago
        Alas, neither my grocery store nor does my landlord care about nice feels. Hence I do HTTP 402 Pay me.
        shrimp_emoji 4y ago
        And so your software will be poisoned by value extraction from the user, which will be inferior to software from someone not wanting to make money, which I'll use instead. :D
        notyourday 4y ago
        Name a non-abstract but existing superior free gallery software for Android downloadable from f-droid. It must: 1. Support mediaapi - not be confused about where Whatsapp puts its images. 2. Allow management of files. 3. Be able to provide basic organization (folders/sorting[per folder]/cover images) 4. Support all modern image formats used by phones and the web. 5. Not crash. 6. Not delete/corrupt files by accident. 7. Be able to play modern video/audio files (pick top 20 popular codecs)
        4y ago
- mort96 4y ago
  Same here. As a result, the vast majority of my programming effort goes into my day job, and my OSS projects are critically understaffed. Which works okay for me and my projects, but if I wanted them to be serious players in the market rather than just side projects, I would need to find a way to earn money in a way which doesn't eat most of my time. Personally, I want FOSS software to be able to be serious players in the market. Therefore, I want them to have enough developer resources to make that possible. Therefore, they need to make money.
  - nerdyadventurer 4y ago
    > Personally, I want FOSS software to be able to be serious players in the market. Therefore, I want them to have enough developer resources to make that possible. Therefore, they need to make money. I agree. I do not see anything wrong with earning money from open source software, lots of companies do it. Open source is always good for transparency than proprietary closed software. We should support open source devs to be successful, as you said, to go against proprietary monopolies.
- ffpip 4y ago
  Working on this suite of apps might be his day job. If he takes up a day job he might not be able to work on and maintain these many apps. Can you develop and maintain a suite of 8-10 apps only on your free time? I was talking about how this specific developer who makes these many apps can make money, and not how you do.
feanaro 4y ago
I'm seriously surprised by the number of people here not understanding what free software / open source means. The tag line is literally "free as in freedom, not as in beer". How is it possible to miss this?
- suprjami 4y ago
  Free as in freeloading
unethical_ban 4y ago
The problem is marketing it as if it will be free and ad free, then restricting its capability based on price while notifying users to upgrade. It's a bait and switch.
newsch 4y ago
For what it's worth, when I modified the dialer app to add a feature the developer didn't want, I discovered that there is a nag built into every screen that triggers randomly for "unofficial" versions: https://github.com/SimpleMobileTools/Simple-Commons/blob/5add391a3718604bb465a7180b6cda1daae62e0f/commons/src/main/kotlin/com/simplemobiletools/commons/activities/BaseSimpleActivity.kt#L79 https://github.com/SimpleMobileTools/Simple-Commons/blob/5ad...
thow34wqway 4y ago
> Do you have any other ways the developer can make a living? Yes. Sell commercial software or If the developer cares about open source then charge for support. Its a disservice IMO to make the user install for free and then ask them money to use other features wasting users time. There is a incentive to make worst product in the free version which goes against the principle of opensource.

by ffpip 4y ago

metalliqaz 4y ago

I am an oss dev. I make a living at my day job.

mburee 4y ago
Exactly, if you don't want to develop open source software, just don't do it
- cinntaile 4y ago
  It doesn't mean you have to do it for free, even if you develop open source software.
- phalangion 4y ago
  And if you don’t like how someone manages their open source software, don’t use it.
  - teknopaul 4y ago
    That's what peeps here are recommending. Save yourself a download if you are used to the normal OS model.
djbusby 4y ago
Not every developer has a day job.
- cortesoft 4y ago
  If they want to make money from their programming, they should get one.
  - vorpalhex 4y ago
    If you want nice software, you should use your day job money and support the people who make it.
    - cortesoft 4y ago
      I contribute to open source by writing it and participating in the community, not by spending dollars.
      - notyourday 4y ago
        Alas, neither my grocery store nor does my landlord care about nice feels. Hence I do HTTP 402 Pay me.
        shrimp_emoji 4y ago
        And so your software will be poisoned by value extraction from the user, which will be inferior to software from someone not wanting to make money, which I'll use instead. :D
        notyourday 4y ago
        Name a non-abstract but existing superior free gallery software for Android downloadable from f-droid. It must: 1. Support mediaapi - not be confused about where Whatsapp puts its images. 2. Allow management of files. 3. Be able to provide basic organization (folders/sorting[per folder]/cover images) 4. Support all modern image formats used by phones and the web. 5. Not crash. 6. Not delete/corrupt files by accident. 7. Be able to play modern video/audio files (pick top 20 popular codecs)
        4y ago
mort96 4y ago
Same here. As a result, the vast majority of my programming effort goes into my day job, and my OSS projects are critically understaffed. Which works okay for me and my projects, but if I wanted them to be serious players in the market rather than just side projects, I would need to find a way to earn money in a way which doesn't eat most of my time. Personally, I want FOSS software to be able to be serious players in the market. Therefore, I want them to have enough developer resources to make that possible. Therefore, they need to make money.
- nerdyadventurer 4y ago
  > Personally, I want FOSS software to be able to be serious players in the market. Therefore, I want them to have enough developer resources to make that possible. Therefore, they need to make money. I agree. I do not see anything wrong with earning money from open source software, lots of companies do it. Open source is always good for transparency than proprietary closed software. We should support open source devs to be successful, as you said, to go against proprietary monopolies.
ffpip 4y ago
Working on this suite of apps might be his day job. If he takes up a day job he might not be able to work on and maintain these many apps. Can you develop and maintain a suite of 8-10 apps only on your free time? I was talking about how this specific developer who makes these many apps can make money, and not how you do.

feanaro 4y ago

I'm seriously surprised by the number of people here not understanding what free software / open source means. The tag line is literally "free as in freedom, not as in beer". How is it possible to miss this?

suprjami 4y ago
Free as in freeloading

unethical_ban 4y ago

The problem is marketing it as if it will be free and ad free, then restricting its capability based on price while notifying users to upgrade. It's a bait and switch.

newsch 4y ago

For what it's worth, when I modified the dialer app to add a feature the developer didn't want, I discovered that there is a nag built into every screen that triggers randomly for "unofficial" versions: https://github.com/SimpleMobileTools/Simple-Commons/blob/5add391a3718604bb465a7180b6cda1daae62e0f/commons/src/main/kotlin/com/simplemobiletools/commons/activities/BaseSimpleActivity.kt#L79 https://github.com/SimpleMobileTools/Simple-Commons/blob/5ad...

thow34wqway 4y ago

> Do you have any other ways the developer can make a living? Yes. Sell commercial software or If the developer cares about open source then charge for support. Its a disservice IMO to make the user install for free and then ask them money to use other features wasting users time. There is a incentive to make worst product in the free version which goes against the principle of opensource.