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> If all proprietary software that dared to charge a fee was destined to “die” this very forum wouldn’t exist. I don't follow. All proprietary software IS dest

> If all proprietary software that dared to charge a fee was destined to “die” this very forum wouldn’t exist. I don't follow. All proprietary software IS destined to die. Even extremely popular proprietary software. Windows 10? That's destined to die. iOS 14? Destined to die. It's inevitable. If you're lucky, the overlords making the software will give you a new alternative. Hopefully the new alternative has all the functionality and isn't 100x more expensive. But OS doesn't work this way, because it can be forked. The way it works is that, in the beginning, proprietary software is really good compared to OS. As time goes on, the proprietary software rots. It either stays the same, obsolences, or actively gets worse. Usually the last one. OS software, by comparison, gets better and better. Eventually they intersect, and if you chose the proprietary tree, you lost.

dangus 1y ago
Is it not possible for open source software to die by not having any interest or maintainers? Is it not possible for open source software with no forks to be taken offline forever because the creator decided to take it down? I thought when you were making the argument that all proprietary software is destined to die that you were actually making a real argument to say that it will die because it will become inferior to open source software that customers will prefer. But no, actually, you’re making a completely pointless argument about how a specific version of software will die because it has been surpassed by a future version of it, and you’re just cynically assuming that all proprietary software eventually gets worse, that you’ll actually want to go back to an old version and fork it to maintain it. But this argument is just plain false for a lot of people who use that software. No, my Autodesk isn’t going to “die” because it’s updated monthly and I can’t use the old version, just like a McDonald’s doesn’t “die” because the hamburger I ate from them yesterday doesn’t exist anymore.

dangus 1y ago

Is it not possible for open source software to die by not having any interest or maintainers? Is it not possible for open source software with no forks to be taken offline forever because the creator decided to take it down? I thought when you were making the argument that all proprietary software is destined to die that you were actually making a real argument to say that it will die because it will become inferior to open source software that customers will prefer. But no, actually, you’re making a completely pointless argument about how a specific version of software will die because it has been surpassed by a future version of it, and you’re just cynically assuming that all proprietary software eventually gets worse, that you’ll actually want to go back to an old version and fork it to maintain it. But this argument is just plain false for a lot of people who use that software. No, my Autodesk isn’t going to “die” because it’s updated monthly and I can’t use the old version, just like a McDonald’s doesn’t “die” because the hamburger I ate from them yesterday doesn’t exist anymore.