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The key word here is maintenance. Most things you own you also maintain yourself. It doesn’t hold true for software. People expect software to work for some ti

by baxtr 4y ago

The key word here is maintenance. Most things you own you also maintain yourself. It doesn’t hold true for software. People expect software to work for some time.. On their new device, after the OS update. Bugs need to be removed, new features built. You can and will fix your car. You will maintain it too. And you will happily pay for it. Same with the house you own. You might even renovate it, add a new level. It is not possible to own and maintain software that way.

lapcat 4y ago
> People expect software to work for some time.. On their new device, after the OS update. Bugs need to be removed, new features built. The software will be maintained, because the software developer needs to continue to sell the software to new customers. Hence OS compatibility will be maintained, bugs will be fixed. It's not like the developer stops working on the software immediately after you, one customer, purchases it.
- baxtr 4y ago
  The same is true for a car manufacturer. It’s not like they stop producing new cars after they’ve sold you one. You still don’t expect the updated breaking system once the line is out.
  - lapcat 4y ago
    Physical products have warranties. They get fixed if there are defects.
goldbattle 4y ago
I think this isn't the case for many open source projects I use. The reason I'm drawn to OSS is for the ability to be able to fix it down the line by myself. This also allows me to possibly contribute back those improvements so others can leverage them.
deleted 4y ago
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SoftTalker 4y ago
Maintenance doesn't require a subscription. When my car needs repair, I pay for it. I don't "subscribe" to a maintenance plan (though such plans exist, they are on average more expensive). It used to be commonplace for softare updates, new versions, etc. to be sold as they became available. If you wanted the new features or needed the bug fixes, you bought the update. If you didn't need them, you kept using the old version.
- baxtr 4y ago
  I agree. We both think that updates require money. I never said that maintenance requires a subscription. But that it’s naive to think that you can buy software and then to be entitled to maintenance forever.

by baxtr 4y ago

lapcat 4y ago

> People expect software to work for some time.. On their new device, after the OS update. Bugs need to be removed, new features built. The software will be maintained, because the software developer needs to continue to sell the software to new customers. Hence OS compatibility will be maintained, bugs will be fixed. It's not like the developer stops working on the software immediately after you, one customer, purchases it.

baxtr 4y ago
The same is true for a car manufacturer. It’s not like they stop producing new cars after they’ve sold you one. You still don’t expect the updated breaking system once the line is out.
- lapcat 4y ago
  Physical products have warranties. They get fixed if there are defects.

goldbattle 4y ago

I think this isn't the case for many open source projects I use. The reason I'm drawn to OSS is for the ability to be able to fix it down the line by myself. This also allows me to possibly contribute back those improvements so others can leverage them.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

SoftTalker 4y ago

Maintenance doesn't require a subscription. When my car needs repair, I pay for it. I don't "subscribe" to a maintenance plan (though such plans exist, they are on average more expensive). It used to be commonplace for softare updates, new versions, etc. to be sold as they became available. If you wanted the new features or needed the bug fixes, you bought the update. If you didn't need them, you kept using the old version.

baxtr 4y ago
I agree. We both think that updates require money. I never said that maintenance requires a subscription. But that it’s naive to think that you can buy software and then to be entitled to maintenance forever.