Thanks, SjO. What could illustrate more emphatically the need to "build a business centered on FOSS"?
Your post proves my point, namely that there is no money in FOSS, and almost all FOSS developers must rely on income from outside of their FOSS project to keep themselves alive, therefore FOSS as a religion (instead of a business model) is an idea that will whither away.
Your logic seems horribly backwards. By your definition, the best FOSS software is the software that no one uses.
This vain attitude of "fuck-the-user" is precisely why 95% of the world uses Windows but doesn't have to, could have computers free of malware but do not, could have encrypted GPG emails but are spied on by the government, etc...
Currently FOSS is a religion (people release their code under GPL because it's morally right, not because it makes any sense) because it's an attractive meme. And in time, like religion, this idea will be exposed as worthless. However, if it is ever to mature into a real business model (and this can happen, because the OS model of software development has tremendous advantages) and do real good in the world, developers must let their own desires take a back seat to what their users want, and this is something that seems impossible for many people here to do.
If you were interested in building a business centered on FOSS, you would realize that "regular users, especially rabid, demanding ones" are the greatest gifts you could ever receive and would add many useful thing to an Open Source Software project. You talk about FOSS in your post, but I think you have it confused for "intellectual masturbation that happens to be open sourced".
Anyways, I'm going over to read Linux Hater's Blog. Have fun coding!
...and despite what anyone here might like to believe, Microsoft is making money hand over fist, with profits rising all the time. If selling software is dead, why is the industry making so much money selling software?
It is clearly true that copying software, once it has been created, is essentially free. However that ignores the fact that software costs a lot of money to create. If there is no financial motive to create software, very little software will be created.
The parent post is modded funny, but it should definitely be informative instead. As a Canadian writing heavily regulated documents in the UK, I have been continually amazed at not only how many small differences there are between US and UK English (I find and replace all 'z's as a starter) but how much the English care. We have had applications rejected for being too "American". The culprit? Spelling!
Converting from US to UK English is a non-trivial task, and one of more subtlety that most would give it credit. I am by no means justifying the price gouging, but there is some work involved to make it happen.
As an aside, it doesn't help that the car-wreck that is Word does not pick up on many American words that have UK counterparts. I currently have 30+ in a special dictionary that are always marked as mis-spelled (whether the document is formatted UK or US English). Those words always got me into trouble because they looked right to me!
Your comment hinges on a statement that is incorrect.
All CLOSED systems naturally devolve from order to disorder. The Earth is not a closed system, receiving energy from the Sun on a constant basis. When a tree grows an apple it is creating order (the apple) out of disorder (water, CO2, soil), and it uses the Sun's power to do it.
I'm too dumb to understand it, but they even have the math for this. Anyone who has completed a university-level chemistry class (not me, unfortunately) should be able to explain this to you.
I think you'll find that the type of awesome used in FF3 has more of a "bar" form than the type used in Safari. Safari's "awesome" looked more like pants.
Which of the following two scenarios is more likely:
1. Government official says, "this guy is obviously a smart ass. I'd better just give him back his things and let him go."
2. Government offiical says, "this guy is a smart ass. I'd better confiscate his computer permanently."
I mean, I realize it's funny to say they won't know how to deal with a command prompt, but if you think that their ignorance will lead to them leaving you to pass unmolested, you're being hopelessly naive. You might as well suggest that if you simply put a lock on your briefcase and claim you don't have the keys they're going to wave you right through.
No. No they're not going to do that. You won't like what they're going to do.
Fortunately I've never needed to do any of those things, and I'd guess 99.9% of computer users haven't needed to yet. But hey! At least we're concentrating on the important stuff!
Pretend that you make some software that facilitates some service. The software can be distributed for free because the facilitated service makes money for you. If you release under the GPL, you basically shoot yourself in the foot because now anyone can set up a business just like yours by simply taking your code. What advantages does the GPL have for you?
I like the principles of the GPL, but I also understand why businesses stay away from it for the above mentioned reason. It can force you to give away your business model.
That ability to pick and choose is handy, isn't it?
It allows Christians, on the one hand, to claim that anything barbaric isn't relevant and should be ignored and, on the other hand, to whip up righteous wrath upon any who fall afoul of whichever verse the Christian feels particularly strong about. You cannot have it both ways. Either it is the infallible word of God and every last word is the truth and must be obeyed, or the whole thing is open to question and therefore not the infallible word of God and can/should be ignored.
Your note at the end is very correct. Christians believe what they believe because they believe it. You cannot argue anyone out of their religion because at the end of the day they'll just hit you with the ultimate argument killer: "I have faith." When they opened their hearts, they closed their minds.
Sorry to jump in on your thread, but these experiences echo my own so closely I wanted to say something. Every 6 months or so I try and install Linux and always end up back with Windows for some reason or another. I like the concepts of Linux and FOSS, but just can't seem to get Linux to do what I need it to do. Oh well. In a few months I'll buy a new hard drive and I'll try dual booting again (never had much luck with getting GRUB to work and have lost SO much data (read: porn and music) to it over the years) but I remain confident that one of these days I'll get the thing to work!
Anyways, just wanted to say that I imagine there's a lot of us who would like to use Linux but can't for one reason or another, and I imagine that as time goes by, we'll slowly all convert over as our particular problems are solved. Encouraging, but frustrating, if you know what I mean?
I considered, "So, you're luvin' whichever operating system you prefer, then?" as a punch line, but it didn't have quite the same effect. I'll try to be a little more vendor/ideology neutral when crafting nerd jokes in the future.
Do you think everyone in that street watching the incident approved of what was happening? I doubt it. I would guess every last one of them thought the kids should stop. But unfortunately humanity doesn't work the way you so naively suggested it does.
Yes, it would be nice if all people everywhere would instantly stand up in a united front to end all oppression in all its forms. You might as well wish for a flying pony while you're at it.
I stand by my claim. In the UK it's stupid to confront destructive youths, so no one does it. Suggesting anything else is, well, juvenile.
The people standing around ignoring the kids trying to pull the door off of the phone booth were trying not to become involved because they feared they would be attacked...and with good reason. I've lived in the UK almost two years now, and in that time there have been at least 3 incidents where someone doing exactly what you just did was killed by the youths. Your solution, while noble, is not an option most people would be willing to risk.
The solution to this problem is not stricter policing, it's not tougher sentencing, it's not tighter surveillance, it's not everyone getting mad at the kids.
The "freedom" that gNewSense provides is relevant to 0.000000001% of the population. Too bad that the only people who could do something about the freedom of the other 99.99999999% can't be arsed to make it easy enough for that multitude to use.
Fourthed. It's like having a library full of all the world's media at your fingertips. Any book. Any song. Any movie. Anything, from anywhen. It's there. A couple of years ago I found old BBC episodes of "The Tripods". Totally camp. Aired in the '80's!!
I didn't download anything, and I never have, however. Because that's wrong and will destroy civilization as we know it.
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Thanks, SjO. What could illustrate more emphatically the need to "build a business centered on FOSS"?
Your post proves my point, namely that there is no money in FOSS, and almost all FOSS developers must rely on income from outside of their FOSS project to keep themselves alive, therefore FOSS as a religion (instead of a business model) is an idea that will whither away.
Your logic seems horribly backwards. By your definition, the best FOSS software is the software that no one uses.
This vain attitude of "fuck-the-user" is precisely why 95% of the world uses Windows but doesn't have to, could have computers free of malware but do not, could have encrypted GPG emails but are spied on by the government, etc...
Currently FOSS is a religion (people release their code under GPL because it's morally right, not because it makes any sense) because it's an attractive meme. And in time, like religion, this idea will be exposed as worthless. However, if it is ever to mature into a real business model (and this can happen, because the OS model of software development has tremendous advantages) and do real good in the world, developers must let their own desires take a back seat to what their users want, and this is something that seems impossible for many people here to do.
If you were interested in building a business centered on FOSS, you would realize that "regular users, especially rabid, demanding ones" are the greatest gifts you could ever receive and would add many useful thing to an Open Source Software project. You talk about FOSS in your post, but I think you have it confused for "intellectual masturbation that happens to be open sourced".
Anyways, I'm going over to read Linux Hater's Blog. Have fun coding!
...and despite what anyone here might like to believe, Microsoft is making money hand over fist, with profits rising all the time. If selling software is dead, why is the industry making so much money selling software?
It is clearly true that copying software, once it has been created, is essentially free. However that ignores the fact that software costs a lot of money to create. If there is no financial motive to create software, very little software will be created.
Cue GPL zealots....now! :)
The parent post is modded funny, but it should definitely be informative instead. As a Canadian writing heavily regulated documents in the UK, I have been continually amazed at not only how many small differences there are between US and UK English (I find and replace all 'z's as a starter) but how much the English care. We have had applications rejected for being too "American". The culprit? Spelling!
Converting from US to UK English is a non-trivial task, and one of more subtlety that most would give it credit. I am by no means justifying the price gouging, but there is some work involved to make it happen.
As an aside, it doesn't help that the car-wreck that is Word does not pick up on many American words that have UK counterparts. I currently have 30+ in a special dictionary that are always marked as mis-spelled (whether the document is formatted UK or US English). Those words always got me into trouble because they looked right to me!
How does one know one is not delusional?
Great post! Scares the shit out of me.
Your comment hinges on a statement that is incorrect.
All CLOSED systems naturally devolve from order to disorder. The Earth is not a closed system, receiving energy from the Sun on a constant basis. When a tree grows an apple it is creating order (the apple) out of disorder (water, CO2, soil), and it uses the Sun's power to do it.
I'm too dumb to understand it, but they even have the math for this. Anyone who has completed a university-level chemistry class (not me, unfortunately) should be able to explain this to you.
You are correct in that history shows us that the market sometimes oppresses certain groups.
Fortunately, history also shows us that any other system is a helluva lot worse.
I think you'll find that the type of awesome used in FF3 has more of a "bar" form than the type used in Safari. Safari's "awesome" looked more like pants.
Let's say you do that.
Which of the following two scenarios is more likely:
1. Government official says, "this guy is obviously a smart ass. I'd better just give him back his things and let him go."
2. Government offiical says, "this guy is a smart ass. I'd better confiscate his computer permanently."
I mean, I realize it's funny to say they won't know how to deal with a command prompt, but if you think that their ignorance will lead to them leaving you to pass unmolested, you're being hopelessly naive. You might as well suggest that if you simply put a lock on your briefcase and claim you don't have the keys they're going to wave you right through.
No. No they're not going to do that. You won't like what they're going to do.
So you grow/find your own food?
I realize you may just be prone to hyperbole, but refusing to offer anything to society in exchange for goods and services seems...short-sighted.
Fortunately I've never needed to do any of those things, and I'd guess 99.9% of computer users haven't needed to yet. But hey! At least we're concentrating on the important stuff!
I have a question.
Pretend that you make some software that facilitates some service. The software can be distributed for free because the facilitated service makes money for you. If you release under the GPL, you basically shoot yourself in the foot because now anyone can set up a business just like yours by simply taking your code. What advantages does the GPL have for you?
I like the principles of the GPL, but I also understand why businesses stay away from it for the above mentioned reason. It can force you to give away your business model.
I think even one hijacking per year is pretty generous. I'd like to see the stats for hijackings/all flights.
"but how can you ever make a factory job as fun as a video game?"
Maybe some sort of video game factory?
That ability to pick and choose is handy, isn't it?
It allows Christians, on the one hand, to claim that anything barbaric isn't relevant and should be ignored and, on the other hand, to whip up righteous wrath upon any who fall afoul of whichever verse the Christian feels particularly strong about. You cannot have it both ways. Either it is the infallible word of God and every last word is the truth and must be obeyed, or the whole thing is open to question and therefore not the infallible word of God and can/should be ignored.
Your note at the end is very correct. Christians believe what they believe because they believe it. You cannot argue anyone out of their religion because at the end of the day they'll just hit you with the ultimate argument killer: "I have faith." When they opened their hearts, they closed their minds.
Sorry to jump in on your thread, but these experiences echo my own so closely I wanted to say something. Every 6 months or so I try and install Linux and always end up back with Windows for some reason or another. I like the concepts of Linux and FOSS, but just can't seem to get Linux to do what I need it to do. Oh well. In a few months I'll buy a new hard drive and I'll try dual booting again (never had much luck with getting GRUB to work and have lost SO much data (read: porn and music) to it over the years) but I remain confident that one of these days I'll get the thing to work!
Anyways, just wanted to say that I imagine there's a lot of us who would like to use Linux but can't for one reason or another, and I imagine that as time goes by, we'll slowly all convert over as our particular problems are solved. Encouraging, but frustrating, if you know what I mean?
Cheers all.
True enough.
I considered, "So, you're luvin' whichever operating system you prefer, then?" as a punch line, but it didn't have quite the same effect. I'll try to be a little more vendor/ideology neutral when crafting nerd jokes in the future.
How very...reasonable...of you.
So, you're luvin' Windows, then?
Do you think everyone in that street watching the incident approved of what was happening? I doubt it. I would guess every last one of them thought the kids should stop. But unfortunately humanity doesn't work the way you so naively suggested it does.
Yes, it would be nice if all people everywhere would instantly stand up in a united front to end all oppression in all its forms. You might as well wish for a flying pony while you're at it.
I stand by my claim. In the UK it's stupid to confront destructive youths, so no one does it. Suggesting anything else is, well, juvenile.
The people standing around ignoring the kids trying to pull the door off of the phone booth were trying not to become involved because they feared they would be attacked...and with good reason. I've lived in the UK almost two years now, and in that time there have been at least 3 incidents where someone doing exactly what you just did was killed by the youths. Your solution, while noble, is not an option most people would be willing to risk.
The solution to this problem is not stricter policing, it's not tougher sentencing, it's not tighter surveillance, it's not everyone getting mad at the kids.
Damn. That's bothered me forever. Thanks.
See? Easy-peasy!
Bingo.
The "freedom" that gNewSense provides is relevant to 0.000000001% of the population. Too bad that the only people who could do something about the freedom of the other 99.99999999% can't be arsed to make it easy enough for that multitude to use.
I'm interested in this stone. How does it work?
Fourthed. It's like having a library full of all the world's media at your fingertips. Any book. Any song. Any movie. Anything, from anywhen. It's there. A couple of years ago I found old BBC episodes of "The Tripods". Totally camp. Aired in the '80's!!
I didn't download anything, and I never have, however. Because that's wrong and will destroy civilization as we know it.