3 ms·

What's unfortunate about that? The (single!) author of this software deserves every dollar they make for the thing they made, software doesn't need to be open s

What's unfortunate about that? The (single!) author of this software deserves every dollar they make for the thing they made, software doesn't need to be open source to be good software. If you want to stand up your own private copy, contact them and arrange a fair contract where you pay them a large and entirely reasonable amount of money in exchange for a non-transferable, non-competing license to run a private, offline instance.

metadat 4y ago
Good point. Thank you @TheRealPomax. The phenomenon of projects existing and being openly available on GitHub has somehow led to me having an inappropriate expectation about them being FOSS. I accept it's a "me" problem.
- spoils19 4y ago
  I wouldn't back down in your scenario, as RMS says, all software should be free, implying that it should be open for us to change as needed.
  - diroussel 4y ago
    Just because RMS says it doesn’t mean it’s true.
  - metadat 4y ago
    The author doesn't owe the general public a FOSS product. The source is already freely available, which is better than nothing. For a relevant example, consider Adobe- they are actively hostile to sharing source code. Complete capitalist jackasses, yet Adobe doesn't generally get a hard time about it on HN or elsewhere.
  - TheRealPomax 4y ago
    Just because someone says it, doesn't make it either true, or even sensible as "this is how it should be". Unless you can back up that statement with strong arguments (which RMS can't, ideology doesn't pay real world bills, and unlike RMS, the rest of us don't get paid lavish speaker fees) appealing to authority does nothing to strengthen a position.
rhn_mk1 4y ago
It's unfortunate that: - you can't learn its techniques - you can't improve it - you can't fix it - the author could change their mind about distributing any part (or whole) of it at any time - the author may include undesirable features - the author could sell the software to someone who does the above - the software is limited in its reach to those who can afford and have a possibility to pay for it Of course, the author deserves every dollar for the time they spend making the software. It's unfortunate if they have to restrict the software to do that. There is a whole philosophy about Free Software: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/shouldbefree.html https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/shouldbefree.html
- TheRealPomax 4y ago
  The real question is: "why do you feel you need to do that with everything you use"? If there's something missing, or broken, just report it. Or in the ultimate freedom: think you can do better? Whip out that VS Code and start making your own open source Photoshop. As for "the software is limited in its reach to those who can afford and have a possibility to pay for it", do you even use this app? Because it sounds like you don't, you're just commenting on it as a drive by HN reader. Everyone with internet access who wants to use this web-based "I can't believe it's not Photoshop" can do so for free. It's free software. Just not open source.
  - andrewshadura 4y ago
    It's not free software, it's freeware.
  - rhn_mk1 4y ago
    > If there's something missing, or broken, just report it. ...and hope that it's what the author wants and has time for, while you could take care of it yourself here and now rather than break an open door by starting from scratch. > think you can do better? What if I can't do better? It's unfortunate I can't learn. > do you even use this app? I've lived long enough that I had many a chance to get excluded by proprietary software because of access troubles, including mandatory internet connection.

metadat 4y ago

Good point. Thank you @TheRealPomax. The phenomenon of projects existing and being openly available on GitHub has somehow led to me having an inappropriate expectation about them being FOSS. I accept it's a "me" problem.

spoils19 4y ago
I wouldn't back down in your scenario, as RMS says, all software should be free, implying that it should be open for us to change as needed.
- diroussel 4y ago
  Just because RMS says it doesn’t mean it’s true.
- metadat 4y ago
  The author doesn't owe the general public a FOSS product. The source is already freely available, which is better than nothing. For a relevant example, consider Adobe- they are actively hostile to sharing source code. Complete capitalist jackasses, yet Adobe doesn't generally get a hard time about it on HN or elsewhere.
- TheRealPomax 4y ago
  Just because someone says it, doesn't make it either true, or even sensible as "this is how it should be". Unless you can back up that statement with strong arguments (which RMS can't, ideology doesn't pay real world bills, and unlike RMS, the rest of us don't get paid lavish speaker fees) appealing to authority does nothing to strengthen a position.

rhn_mk1 4y ago

It's unfortunate that: - you can't learn its techniques - you can't improve it - you can't fix it - the author could change their mind about distributing any part (or whole) of it at any time - the author may include undesirable features - the author could sell the software to someone who does the above - the software is limited in its reach to those who can afford and have a possibility to pay for it Of course, the author deserves every dollar for the time they spend making the software. It's unfortunate if they have to restrict the software to do that. There is a whole philosophy about Free Software: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/shouldbefree.html https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/shouldbefree.html

TheRealPomax 4y ago
The real question is: "why do you feel you need to do that with everything you use"? If there's something missing, or broken, just report it. Or in the ultimate freedom: think you can do better? Whip out that VS Code and start making your own open source Photoshop. As for "the software is limited in its reach to those who can afford and have a possibility to pay for it", do you even use this app? Because it sounds like you don't, you're just commenting on it as a drive by HN reader. Everyone with internet access who wants to use this web-based "I can't believe it's not Photoshop" can do so for free. It's free software. Just not open source.
- andrewshadura 4y ago
  It's not free software, it's freeware.
- rhn_mk1 4y ago
  > If there's something missing, or broken, just report it. ...and hope that it's what the author wants and has time for, while you could take care of it yourself here and now rather than break an open door by starting from scratch. > think you can do better? What if I can't do better? It's unfortunate I can't learn. > do you even use this app? I've lived long enough that I had many a chance to get excluded by proprietary software because of access troubles, including mandatory internet connection.