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"Being that the right to modify, use and redistribute." ....except using it in a proprietary application and not redistributing your changes. Just ask the The
by paulhauggis 15y ago
"Being that the right to modify, use and redistribute."
....except using it in a proprietary application and not redistributing your changes. Just ask the Thesis theme owner about this.
"He associates evil with charging money for software but not letting the buyer having his basic owner rights. Being that the right to modify, use and redistribute."
The problem with what you said here is that he things its evil to not allow someone to be able to share an application with all of their friends after they bought it once. I suppose he's not directly saying money is evil, but since you pretty much can't make money on an app this way (eventually it will be shared and you will lose any hope of making a profit), he's indirectly saying it.
Sure, you can make money on support, but this rules out most small companies because most simply don't have the support staff.
Eventually, this will catch up with the development community. We've all seen bookstores, newspapers, and many other traditional businesses go under in the past couple of years due to the Internet.
Business owners are getting more tech savvy as the older generation dies off. Why should I hire a college-educated software engineer that can write complex apps when I can get all of those difficult parts for free in an OSS app and hire a less-educated software mechanic for less money?
We aren't there yet, but as more and more things are released for free, we will be. My prediction is that the prevalence of open source software it will devalue developer wages over time.
I've already seen it happening. Not necessarily devaluing, but hiring one developer instead of three because an open source app can be used.
- slowpoke 15y agoI've already seen it happening. Not necessarily devaluing, but hiring one developer instead of three because an open source app can be used. How does that devalue developers? Heck, why would you consider this a problem at all? Do you consider it a problem as well that you can use free libraries as well instead of having to write your own implementation of everything? Or think it is problematic that people can use an operating system that works out of the box instead of having to program their own kernel and abstractions? Avoiding redundant efforts and duplication is good. Whether that means not having to re-write the same code or not having to hire more developers to solve a problem that's been solved before does not matter.
- tikhonj 15y agoThe jobs argument is funny: I bet many of the same people who argue against open source software because it takes developer's jobs are the same who are completely happy with automation taking away menial factory jobs. Maybe they only hired one developer instead of three. But this is a good thing--they were able to create the same value for a third the cost; this is a benefit to everybody.
- paulhauggis 15y ago"Maybe they only hired one developer instead of three. But this is a good thing--they were able to create the same value for a third the cost; this is a benefit to everybody." I'm not saying it's a bad thing. I'm just warning developers that choose to give all their best code away for free. When they find themselves out of a job in 5 years, they shouldn't complain.
- paulhauggis 15y ago"How does that devalue developers? Heck, why would you consider this a problem at all? Do you consider it a problem as well that you can use free libraries as well instead of having to write your own implementation of everything?" It's not a problem for me. I own a business and I'm a developer. It just means cheaper labor for me in the future.
- paulhauggis 15y agoI really wish I could have intellectual conversations on HN without getting downvoted to oblivion. This is why I left Reddit..