3 ms·

Not everyone feels comfortable running third-party opaque code in their computers.

by soldeace 4mo ago

auggierose 4mo ago
Most people paying money for software do, though.
- antiframe 4mo ago
  Which is why I think Obsidian is such a weird piece of software. It's free. It doesn't lock your own data behind a paywall. But, it only allows you to modify it in very specific plugin API ways. I pay for software all the time, and I don't expect it to be open source. But for software I don't pay for, I do expect it to be open source.
  - kepano 4mo ago
    On the other hand, that may be part of the reason why Obsidian has such a rich plugin ecosystem. Perhaps there is less of an incentive to build a good plugin API if you can just tell people to fork instead.
    - antiframe 4mo ago
      Emacs and vim don't suffer from the "I'll fork it to make my pet feature" problem. Why would Obsidian?
      - kepano 4mo ago
        The two are not mutually exclusive?
        antiframe 4mo ago
        That's fair. And vim and Emacs have been forked in the past, so you may be on to something there. But, I still expect my editor to be open source. I might be weird like that though.
  - auggierose 4mo ago
    That is an interesting point, and you are probably not alone in that opinion. From a logical point of view, it makes no sense to me, though. Just view it as a purchase that costs $X, but where the author of the software provided you with a voucher worth $X. Why should not paying anything for the software give you the right to modify and fork it as you like, whereas you accept that constraint for software you paid for? Just accept that there is free software which is not open-source. You don't have to "buy" it.
    - antiframe 4mo ago
      I think my thought process goes: I prefer free software (as in freedom, not beer). But, sometimes the author wants to charge money for it so they restrict that freedom to protect their business. I have yet not fully grasped the author doesn't want to charge money for the software but they restrict that freedom anyway.

Not everyone feels comfortable running third-party opaque code in their computers.

auggierose 4mo ago

Most people paying money for software do, though.

antiframe 4mo ago
Which is why I think Obsidian is such a weird piece of software. It's free. It doesn't lock your own data behind a paywall. But, it only allows you to modify it in very specific plugin API ways. I pay for software all the time, and I don't expect it to be open source. But for software I don't pay for, I do expect it to be open source.
- kepano 4mo ago
  On the other hand, that may be part of the reason why Obsidian has such a rich plugin ecosystem. Perhaps there is less of an incentive to build a good plugin API if you can just tell people to fork instead.
  - antiframe 4mo ago
    Emacs and vim don't suffer from the "I'll fork it to make my pet feature" problem. Why would Obsidian?
    - kepano 4mo ago
      The two are not mutually exclusive?
      - antiframe 4mo ago
        That's fair. And vim and Emacs have been forked in the past, so you may be on to something there. But, I still expect my editor to be open source. I might be weird like that though.
- auggierose 4mo ago
  That is an interesting point, and you are probably not alone in that opinion. From a logical point of view, it makes no sense to me, though. Just view it as a purchase that costs $X, but where the author of the software provided you with a voucher worth $X. Why should not paying anything for the software give you the right to modify and fork it as you like, whereas you accept that constraint for software you paid for? Just accept that there is free software which is not open-source. You don't have to "buy" it.
  - antiframe 4mo ago
    I think my thought process goes: I prefer free software (as in freedom, not beer). But, sometimes the author wants to charge money for it so they restrict that freedom to protect their business. I have yet not fully grasped the author doesn't want to charge money for the software but they restrict that freedom anyway.