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>Sometimes we forget that software ought to be useful, not hypothetical ideals of truth. I've long since come to the understanding that if I want software that

>Sometimes we forget that software ought to be useful, not hypothetical ideals of truth. I've long since come to the understanding that if I want software that are useful, I must go and pay for it. Commercial software exist to make money, and to make money they must be useful. If I want software that are hypothetical ideals of truth, I go and shitpost at the nearest neckbeard communion. Free-beer software exist to satisfy a man's desire to display his voluminous beard, everything else is tertiary.

fragmede 2y ago
> I've long since come to the understanding that if I want software that are useful, I must go and pay for it. Commercial software exist to make money, and to make money they must be useful. Even if it were free, wouldn't you want to do something nice (like give them money) for the person(s) who made the useful thing for you?
- Dalewyn 2y ago
  [flagged]
usr1106 2y ago
This might be true in some application areas, but certainly not generally. Where is that commercial kernel that works over a wide spectrum of architectures and system sizes? Where is that commercial compiler that works on many architectures? Where is that commercial packet capture software that people a paying for to get work done? Where is that commercial emulator that can run your operating system on a very different machine in countless combinations. The list could go on and on...
lupusreal 2y ago
What commercial video player do you use which is better than both mpv and VLC?
account42 2y ago
It's the opposite in my experience. Commercial software only cares at most about what is useful to the average user while anything for power users is written off as too expensive to maintain. And these days even if you pay you are often not the main customer since your data and attention is sold to someone else anyway, in which case what is useful to you matters even less.

fragmede 2y ago

> I've long since come to the understanding that if I want software that are useful, I must go and pay for it. Commercial software exist to make money, and to make money they must be useful. Even if it were free, wouldn't you want to do something nice (like give them money) for the person(s) who made the useful thing for you?

Dalewyn 2y ago
[flagged]

usr1106 2y ago

This might be true in some application areas, but certainly not generally. Where is that commercial kernel that works over a wide spectrum of architectures and system sizes? Where is that commercial compiler that works on many architectures? Where is that commercial packet capture software that people a paying for to get work done? Where is that commercial emulator that can run your operating system on a very different machine in countless combinations. The list could go on and on...

lupusreal 2y ago

What commercial video player do you use which is better than both mpv and VLC?

account42 2y ago

It's the opposite in my experience. Commercial software only cares at most about what is useful to the average user while anything for power users is written off as too expensive to maintain. And these days even if you pay you are often not the main customer since your data and attention is sold to someone else anyway, in which case what is useful to you matters even less.