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I won't elaborate on the very real pessimistic comments because those are addressed from others. What I haven't seen mentioned are scenarios with non-technical

I won't elaborate on the very real pessimistic comments because those are addressed from others. What I haven't seen mentioned are scenarios with non-technical customers. In the extreme use case of resource intensive software with completely non-technical customers, who is going to man the ship? It's like selling someone a car who is incapable of driving. Even if you provide an on-prem system turn-key, who is going to manage and maintain the system? Yes, you can sell perpetual licenses with support agreements, but the delimitation of responsibilities will be difficult for non-technical customers to understand. SaaS essentially allows customers to outsource their IT operations.

whizzter 4y ago
Exactly, as much as we love open source in many ways it's also kind-of destroyed the mid-segment of fixed-software sales(the dBase, Lightwaves, Turbo Pascals,etc) and we really need a way to find back to it. Because not only is people not gaining income from their work (even if for example the Blender foundation exists.. how many people can live off it?) but we're also straining a lot of open source developers with support that really needs to be paid-for in some fashion. I don't fault Stallman in this instance(not a fan in general), the GPL always allowed re-sales and I think he did see something akin to the shareware world even with free software, but what happened was the combination with the Internets ubiquity made everyone just jump to the source (kind of rightfully due to bad shenanigans by middlemen actors like SourceForge or worse) leaving potential supporting middlemen screwed.
- mjevans 4y ago
  Stallman would probably be happy with the idea of paying an expert who used open tools. It's no different from taking a bus, or hiring a taxi if you don't know how to drive. My impression is that the key aspect revolves around freedom to participate in society. In theory anyone can run their own email, irc, matrix, etc servers. Anyone is free to use an off the shelf open source product, a paid product, or even write their own if there is need.
themoonisachees 4y ago
Ms exchange and aws, azure come to mind. The cost of paying $10
closeparen 4y ago
There's a deep and rich ecosystem of IT consultancies that sell, operate and maintain shrink-wrapped software and appliances from the likes of Microsoft, Cisco, VMWare, Citrix. These consultancies sell "SaaS" in the form of, like, we'll have a technician drive to your site, get the keys to the server closet, and spend N hours checking on and maintaining things every month. You can make a living as the SQL Server guy for Duluth or the Cisco phones guy for Milwaukee. It's hilariously inefficient compared to cloud/SaaS, and no surprise that cloud and SaaS are eating this world's lunch.

whizzter 4y ago

Exactly, as much as we love open source in many ways it's also kind-of destroyed the mid-segment of fixed-software sales(the dBase, Lightwaves, Turbo Pascals,etc) and we really need a way to find back to it. Because not only is people not gaining income from their work (even if for example the Blender foundation exists.. how many people can live off it?) but we're also straining a lot of open source developers with support that really needs to be paid-for in some fashion. I don't fault Stallman in this instance(not a fan in general), the GPL always allowed re-sales and I think he did see something akin to the shareware world even with free software, but what happened was the combination with the Internets ubiquity made everyone just jump to the source (kind of rightfully due to bad shenanigans by middlemen actors like SourceForge or worse) leaving potential supporting middlemen screwed.

mjevans 4y ago
Stallman would probably be happy with the idea of paying an expert who used open tools. It's no different from taking a bus, or hiring a taxi if you don't know how to drive. My impression is that the key aspect revolves around freedom to participate in society. In theory anyone can run their own email, irc, matrix, etc servers. Anyone is free to use an off the shelf open source product, a paid product, or even write their own if there is need.

themoonisachees 4y ago

Ms exchange and aws, azure come to mind. The cost of paying $10

closeparen 4y ago

There's a deep and rich ecosystem of IT consultancies that sell, operate and maintain shrink-wrapped software and appliances from the likes of Microsoft, Cisco, VMWare, Citrix. These consultancies sell "SaaS" in the form of, like, we'll have a technician drive to your site, get the keys to the server closet, and spend N hours checking on and maintaining things every month. You can make a living as the SQL Server guy for Duluth or the Cisco phones guy for Milwaukee. It's hilariously inefficient compared to cloud/SaaS, and no surprise that cloud and SaaS are eating this world's lunch.