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It's simple when you realize that, FSF is about USER FREEDOM. Not DEVELOPER FREEDOM. As a user, I would be thrilled to have all 4 freedoms met. But as a develop
by dingi 3y ago
It's simple when you realize that, FSF is about USER FREEDOM. Not DEVELOPER FREEDOM. As a user, I would be thrilled to have all 4 freedoms met. But as a developer with commercial interests, this might not be ideal. Clash between FSF and corporate mindsets are an age old thing. They hate FSF's definition of free software with a passion. A lot of mudslinging at FSF can be traced back someway or another to big corporations and their puppet organizations. WRT RMS, I don't see a much difference between him and young activists these days. Sometimes they can be a pain in the a*.
- pas 3y agoAs a user I also want sustainable software, and for that developers have to also have their cake too. Where's the equilibrium point? Hard to say, obviously. Usually both users (and other downstream consumers, ie. other developers) and the actual developers of free & open software suffer from a serious information deficit. Users have crazy demands (see any random half-successful project's issue tracker), but also principled developers seriously underestimate the purchasing power of their user base, and useful overlap of common interests. I still believe that it's possible to build real alternatives to the hyperscale giants, but I have no illusions about doing it with "just focus on the code and principles", just going to comfy conferences funded by said giants, and so on.