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> What I, who likes computers much more than people, can do to generate freedom is write free software. Life is not that simplistic. So you wrote a new CRM su

by maratd 13y ago

> What I, who likes computers much more than people, can do to generate freedom is write free software. Life is not that simplistic. So you wrote a new CRM suite and made it free. This put a bunch of shops out of business, because their clients bolted to your free alternative. The owners of those businesses have less "freedom" now. So do the employees. But the users of your free software have more "freedom", because they now have more money to spend on other things and make their life better. Is there some aggregate increase in freedom? I have no idea and neither do you. Do what you want to do. If you want to write software and make it available for others for free, go for it. If you want to sell it, that's fine too. But whatever you do, no preaching, please.

tjr 13y ago
So you wrote a new CRM suite and made it free. This put a bunch of shops out of business, because their clients bolted to your free alternative. If this is actually a problem it all, it's a matter of software with zero monetary cost, which could be true of open source software, proprietary software, and "free software".
ekianjo 13y ago
> The owners of those businesses have less "freedom" now. So do the employees. But the users of your free software have more "freedom", because they now have more money to spend on other things and make their life better. NO, they had a rent, and they lost their rent because it became irrelevant. They haven't lost their skills, so they are still free to go and look for other rents to make. Note that this rarely happens in the actual world. There are tons of products where proprietary offers are better than FOSS tools. That's how can continue being relevant while doing proprietary software. Or, even if you are not "better" than the free software offer, you can offer paid support for your application, etc... and function as a service company and not a product company anymore.
icebraining 13y ago
Do what you want to do. If you want to write software and make it available for others for free, go for it. If you want to sell it, that's fine too. You're confusing free and Free. My job is writing Free Software, but you can't get all of it for zero monetary cost, since it's not online except for clients of ours (and nobody has ever asked us for the source).
sounds 13y ago
I feel like you are preaching against his preaching – which is a good debate and I enjoy it and all – but you had the stronger argument with "put a bunch of shops out of business."
chriswarbo 13y ago
> Is there some aggregate increase in freedom? I have no idea and neither do you. Yes there is, for the same reason that the third billy goat gruff increased aggregate freedom by butting the troll off the bridge.

by maratd 13y ago

tjr 13y ago

So you wrote a new CRM suite and made it free. This put a bunch of shops out of business, because their clients bolted to your free alternative. If this is actually a problem it all, it's a matter of software with zero monetary cost, which could be true of open source software, proprietary software, and "free software".

ekianjo 13y ago

> The owners of those businesses have less "freedom" now. So do the employees. But the users of your free software have more "freedom", because they now have more money to spend on other things and make their life better. NO, they had a rent, and they lost their rent because it became irrelevant. They haven't lost their skills, so they are still free to go and look for other rents to make. Note that this rarely happens in the actual world. There are tons of products where proprietary offers are better than FOSS tools. That's how can continue being relevant while doing proprietary software. Or, even if you are not "better" than the free software offer, you can offer paid support for your application, etc... and function as a service company and not a product company anymore.

icebraining 13y ago

Do what you want to do. If you want to write software and make it available for others for free, go for it. If you want to sell it, that's fine too. You're confusing free and Free. My job is writing Free Software, but you can't get all of it for zero monetary cost, since it's not online except for clients of ours (and nobody has ever asked us for the source).

sounds 13y ago

I feel like you are preaching against his preaching – which is a good debate and I enjoy it and all – but you had the stronger argument with "put a bunch of shops out of business."

chriswarbo 13y ago

> Is there some aggregate increase in freedom? I have no idea and neither do you. Yes there is, for the same reason that the third billy goat gruff increased aggregate freedom by butting the troll off the bridge.