Free and Open Source Software

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Really interesting thoughts on whether the creators of free software really want their users to be free (werd.io)

submitted 1 year ago by alex@jlai.lu to c/foss

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I think we have to consider that the principles of the free software movement, revolutionary though they genuinely were, were also set in the same mindset that latterly saw its founder Richard Stallman spectacularly fall from grace. They are principles that deal in software development and licensing in strict isolation, outside of the social context of their use. They are code-centered, not human-centered.

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It’s worth considering whose freedom we value. Do we value the freedom of the people who use software, or do we also value the freedom of the people the software is used on? While the latter group doesn’t always exist, when they do, how we consider them says a lot about us and our priorities.

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[–] Catsrules@lemmy.ml 31 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Linux runs the world at this point. Bad people and organization use it as well as good people and organization use it. I personally don't think we can have it both ways without severely limiting the license that I think ultimately hurts the good people and organization more than it would hurt the bad.

Maybe I am wrong about this but if for profit companies aren't allowed to use Linux I think Linux is basically dead. Or becomes so small no one will care about it.

Yes many for profit companies use the code without giving back. However it is my understanding the most big companies do give something back. I think Google is one of the top followed by Microsoft and I think Amazon has realized it is more work to not give back then to give back and has become like the 5th or 6th.

https://www.infoworld.com/article/3694090/amazon-s-quiet-open-source-revolution.html

Sure I would agree they are probably giving the bare minimum back, but at the very least they are giving something back. Even if they give nothing back i think the more use of Linux the better the world is.

If Linux didn't exist or wasn't available for Amazon they would either develop their own solution or just buy it from Microsoft, Apple, IBM etc... Now we have a more lockdown eco system and less people are incentivized to pick Linux as their platform of choice to develop software. Instead of using Apache or Nginx the world would be using Microsoft IIS or something similar.

Personally I am very guilty of taking advantage of open source. I have use open source projects all of my life and I can say I haven't given nearly enough back that i have received. Sure I am not a for profit company so you could argue it is different. But even still I should give back more.