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0 pointsphkahler7mo ago0 comments

>> I'll put it rather bluntly: present-day open source is largely free labor for SaaS companies.

I've used Free Software and Open Source over 20 years and have never paid a SaaS company a dime.

OTOH the most valuable software that I regularly use is Free Software as opposed to Open Source Software. So maybe the OSS really is primarily free labor for SaaS?

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api7mo ago

I'm an OG open source user too. I installed Slackware Linux with kernel 0.99.15 from a stack of floppies as a teenager.

You're part of a very, very small minority. I'm talking about the majority of developers and what the majority of users experience.

What most users are experiencing today is an aggressively non-free non-open zero-privacy rent-seeking software environment that is enabled by open source under the hood. This seems contrary to the stated goals of free software.

phkahlerOP7mo ago

>> What most users are experiencing today is an aggressively non-free non-open zero-privacy rent-seeking software environment that is enabled by open source under the hood. This seems contrary to the stated goals of free software.

That's why GPL is the preferred license for user freedom. HN is by its nature full of people who want to develop stuff for profit. Maybe it's time to stop hanging around here.

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