Open source, when talking about linux and related apps has mostly been a force for good. Improving competition, innovation, extending support for products, hel

Open source, when talking about linux and related apps has mostly been a force for good. Improving competition, innovation, extending support for products, helping train & inspire young developers in the trade. Gates claimed it would destroy the software industry, and years later the industry grew much faster off open source than it would have otherwise, and made Microsoft more competitive than they would have otherwise. That being said, there are negative aspects. Open source advocates can be a bit sanctimonious in the other direction. For example, complaints (not from the devs themselves) about corporations making loads off ffmpeg, or openssl, without adequately compensating them. Even though companies are employing the licensed apps as intended. Another issue is how entitled open source consumers can be: demanding free access to apps, or judging seemingly trivial apps for charging a fee. Selling even a trivial business is hard work, and 90% of the time there's much more nuance to a business than meets the eye. If someone chooses to donate their time for free, and it's not done out of spite to undermine a competitor, it's probably a good thing. But we could all use a bit more humility and introspection.