3 ms·

I hope he's not.

by riscy 11y ago

I hope he's not.

res0nat0r 11y ago
What is wrong for charging money for a product you spend time developing that people want to buy because it provides them value?
- amelius 11y ago
  Nothing. And don't worry. If this turns out to be successful, the OSS community will copy this idea in no time.
  - euyyn 11y ago
    Sure, using their own time, not his.
- djur 11y ago
  There's nothing wrong with charging money for a product. You can charge money for a product without it being proprietary software.
  - res0nat0r 11y ago
    There also is nothing wrong with proprietary software. Don't run it, or purchase it if you have some moral disagreement with it, but many people don't and are perfectly happy to pay money for it.
    - djur 11y ago
      There are a lot of people who believe there is something wrong with proprietary software. You don't have to agree with the FSF or their goals, but it does everyone a disservice to conflate the argument for software freedom with an argument against proprietary software. The FSF considers commercial use and distribution of software to be an important part of software freedom and does not consider licenses that forbid it to be free. And if you think it is unethical to sell proprietary software and refuse to use it oneself, it is also perfectly reasonable to advocate that others follow the same course. A value position that one doesn't believe others should follow isn't a value, it's just a preference.
    - quadrangle 11y ago
      There's absolutely things wrong with proprietary software. It leaves software users in the position of having technology that they cannot control freely. See, e.g. the arguments from GM and John Deere that you do not have permission to modify your own car or tractor. Or countless other examples. And basically zero of the people who pay for proprietary software are saying "I'm so glad this is proprietary". They pay because the package of what they get in utility is worthwhile and outweighs any concern about the proprietary nature of the software.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]

I hope he's not.

by riscy 11y ago

I hope he's not.

What is wrong for charging money for a product you spend time developing that people want to buy because it provides them value?

amelius 11y ago
Nothing. And don't worry. If this turns out to be successful, the OSS community will copy this idea in no time.
- euyyn 11y ago
  Sure, using their own time, not his.
djur 11y ago
There's nothing wrong with charging money for a product. You can charge money for a product without it being proprietary software.
- res0nat0r 11y ago
  There also is nothing wrong with proprietary software. Don't run it, or purchase it if you have some moral disagreement with it, but many people don't and are perfectly happy to pay money for it.
  - djur 11y ago
    There are a lot of people who believe there is something wrong with proprietary software. You don't have to agree with the FSF or their goals, but it does everyone a disservice to conflate the argument for software freedom with an argument against proprietary software. The FSF considers commercial use and distribution of software to be an important part of software freedom and does not consider licenses that forbid it to be free. And if you think it is unethical to sell proprietary software and refuse to use it oneself, it is also perfectly reasonable to advocate that others follow the same course. A value position that one doesn't believe others should follow isn't a value, it's just a preference.
  - quadrangle 11y ago
    There's absolutely things wrong with proprietary software. It leaves software users in the position of having technology that they cannot control freely. See, e.g. the arguments from GM and John Deere that you do not have permission to modify your own car or tractor. Or countless other examples. And basically zero of the people who pay for proprietary software are saying "I'm so glad this is proprietary". They pay because the package of what they get in utility is worthwhile and outweighs any concern about the proprietary nature of the software.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]