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LCA: Addressing the failure of open sourceLCA: Addressing the failure of open sourcePosted Jan 18, 2012 10:18 UTC (Wed) by Wummel (subscriber, #7591)Parent article: LCA: Addressing the failure of open source Now we are seeing open source software being sold as apps to people who don't know that they are buying something they could have for free.
So did he meant to say that selling open source apps for money is good or bad?
The GPL allows selling your software as long as you provide source code. So I like it when people make GPL apps and sell them for example on the android market. I still get the freedom, and the developer gets some money (if I decide not to compile the app myself).
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LCA: Addressing the failure of open source Posted Jan 18, 2012 13:00 UTC (Wed) by rvfh (subscriber, #31018) [Link]
> What do you think?
I fully agree. "Free as in free speech, not free beer."
LCA: Addressing the failure of open source Posted Jan 18, 2012 14:58 UTC (Wed) by angdraug (subscriber, #7487) [Link] It's totally ok to sell open source apps for money as long as buyers are aware that the app is open source and can with a little more effort can be used for free. The problem is that many users of mobile apps are not made aware of the freedoms they are given, they're not given a reason to care about these freedoms, and, as it always happens with freedoms we don't care about, they gradually loose all these freedoms. Even bigger problem is that a freedom can't exist in isolation for one person and not for everyone. When these vast majority of mobile app users (former Internet users) give up their freedoms, these freedoms are also eroded for those who do care about them. I believe that's part of the point Bruce was trying to make: we can only keep the essential software freedoms if we make everyone, not just our small and increasingly marginalized community, care about them. Scratching your own itch is not going to be enough, we gotta learn to rub other people's backs, too.
LCA: Addressing the failure of open source Posted Jan 18, 2012 15:25 UTC (Wed) by Otus (guest, #67685) [Link]
> It's totally ok to sell open source apps for money as long as buyers are
> aware that the app is open source and can with a little more effort can be > used for free.
More important in my opinion: aware that they can give it to their friends if they like it.
LCA: Addressing the failure of open source Posted Jan 18, 2012 15:26 UTC (Wed) by angdraug (subscriber, #7487) [Link]
Very true.
LCA: Addressing the failure of open source Posted Jan 18, 2012 17:19 UTC (Wed) by wilck (subscriber, #29844) [Link]
In my experience, in the Android market, app creators are using "open source" as a marketing attribute. People are made aware of openness, and some seem to actually appreciate that.
But these apps are few. Free (as in beer) apps, on the other hand, are plenty. They account for ~70% of the offerings on the android market (http://www.androlib.com), and their share in terms of downloads is even higher. With these "free" apps, ordinary people care little if they can give the app to their neighbour - after all, neighbour can download the same app for "free" any time if he wants. The freedom to improve and modify the code is only valuable for hackers, a tiny minority of users.
Whether we like it or not, the "Market" business model is attracting not only more users, but also many more developers than the FOSS model.
LCA: Addressing the failure of open source Posted Jan 18, 2012 19:53 UTC (Wed) by fuhchee (subscriber, #40059) [Link]
"Whether we like it or not, the "Market" business model is attracting not only more users, but also many more developers than the FOSS model."
Money talks, and google advertising money talks loudly.
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