4 ms·

It's not about source code access, it's about guaranteeing the four freedoms. As a user, with proprietary software you have to worry about whether you can share

by opan 2y ago

It's not about source code access, it's about guaranteeing the four freedoms. As a user, with proprietary software you have to worry about whether you can share a copy with a friend, sell it on a CD to a guy on the street for $5, or use it at your work place. With free software you can do all of that without worry. For better or for worse, I am not a programmer, and free software is important to me. I have often wished I were a programmer in order to better help and contribute, but have long struggled to learn. I doubt I'm the only one in such a situation.

kube-system 2y ago
Yes, but the difference between freeware and FOSS is rights to the source code. Most users today would only want to exercise freedom 0, so FOSS really isn't offering them anything that appealing. And in fact, freeware is more popular than ever today.
- opan 2y ago
  >Most users today would only want to exercise freedom 0, so FOSS really isn't offering them anything that appealing. I was aiming to address this in my previous post, as a non-programmer user, listing realistic examples that the other freedoms give you. Being able to use software at both home and work, or to share software with a friend without worrying about legal trouble is a benefit I think anyone can appreciate. Lots of software will charge [extra] money for commercial use, limit installs to x number of machines, etc. If you get used to using free software, you can avoid these issues. Also, while not related to the license exactly, using free software, you'll tend to not run into ads like you do with a lot of freeware. I recommend apps from F-Droid to people with Android phones for this reason a lot. While grabbing a popular file manager or music player from the Play Store often seems to get you an ad-ridden mess, I never run into that with anything from F-Droid.
  - kube-system 2y ago
    It's not the 90's anymore, typical computer users don't share software peer-to-peer like they did in the "don't copy that floppy" days. If people want to share software with their friends, they send a link to the download, or a link to the SaaS delivered version. Literally every piece of software used today that a person on the street would have heard of is delivered one of these two ways.

by opan 2y ago

kube-system 2y ago

Yes, but the difference between freeware and FOSS is rights to the source code. Most users today would only want to exercise freedom 0, so FOSS really isn't offering them anything that appealing. And in fact, freeware is more popular than ever today.

opan 2y ago
>Most users today would only want to exercise freedom 0, so FOSS really isn't offering them anything that appealing. I was aiming to address this in my previous post, as a non-programmer user, listing realistic examples that the other freedoms give you. Being able to use software at both home and work, or to share software with a friend without worrying about legal trouble is a benefit I think anyone can appreciate. Lots of software will charge [extra] money for commercial use, limit installs to x number of machines, etc. If you get used to using free software, you can avoid these issues. Also, while not related to the license exactly, using free software, you'll tend to not run into ads like you do with a lot of freeware. I recommend apps from F-Droid to people with Android phones for this reason a lot. While grabbing a popular file manager or music player from the Play Store often seems to get you an ad-ridden mess, I never run into that with anything from F-Droid.
- kube-system 2y ago
  It's not the 90's anymore, typical computer users don't share software peer-to-peer like they did in the "don't copy that floppy" days. If people want to share software with their friends, they send a link to the download, or a link to the SaaS delivered version. Literally every piece of software used today that a person on the street would have heard of is delivered one of these two ways.