The State of The Linux Community
- Thread starter ekianjo
- Start date
ghostpatch
Active Member
"Here's a bold claim - the Linux community likes to take, it does not like to give."
that's way too hrash
"About forty percent of all Dedoimedo visitor block Javascript and/or advertisements when visiting here. I fully understand their logic and/or ideology, because I do not like ads myself. [..] Why? Because geeks do not like ads. Plain and simple."
its a good idea to simply use filters to enable ads for these websites
that's way too hrash
"About forty percent of all Dedoimedo visitor block Javascript and/or advertisements when visiting here. I fully understand their logic and/or ideology, because I do not like ads myself. [..] Why? Because geeks do not like ads. Plain and simple."
its a good idea to simply use filters to enable ads for these websites
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I didn't get the I've done my share part. What did he do?
I'm pretty sure that missing donations are not a problem. I'm not even sure there is a problem here at all. Adobe not providing phhotoshop and flash player because of geeks having fun by disabling ads and making their own distributions? Cry me a river! Is he serious or has my English gone down the drain completely?
The Pandora is probably one of the too many centipede legs that have to be cut off to make free software more like Windows, so he can get the good normal users that actually click on ads and make him the money he so obviously deserves. What an idiot.
He should have spent his time on gnash and actually done something useful. But he's just as useless as the other 50 million users (actually worse because he makes me pay for his crappy site with every purchase I make everywhere).
I'm pretty sure that missing donations are not a problem. I'm not even sure there is a problem here at all. Adobe not providing phhotoshop and flash player because of geeks having fun by disabling ads and making their own distributions? Cry me a river! Is he serious or has my English gone down the drain completely?
The Pandora is probably one of the too many centipede legs that have to be cut off to make free software more like Windows, so he can get the good normal users that actually click on ads and make him the money he so obviously deserves. What an idiot.
He should have spent his time on gnash and actually done something useful. But he's just as useless as the other 50 million users (actually worse because he makes me pay for his crappy site with every purchase I make everywhere).
ekianjo
Hardcore Member
As mentioned in the beginning of the article, he gives money every year to Linux projects.
ekianjo
Hardcore Member
The point he is making is that many open_source projects end up being abandoned because their authors need to sustain themselves and they don't get any money to put food on the table from their works.
It's fairly obvious that if you had more money flowing in the Linux community you would see more activity. And many open source projects (some big ones) are actually financed by large, for profit, companies as well. For smaller projects, if there are no donations, they just die after a while.
It's fairly obvious that if you had more money flowing in the Linux community you would see more activity. And many open source projects (some big ones) are actually financed by large, for profit, companies as well. For smaller projects, if there are no donations, they just die after a while.
He is going much further than that (especially in the flash article he links to ). He really wants to forcefeed a select few projects while deliberately killing everything else. This way he'll just get another Android.
I'm not saying users should not donate, but they need not fear letting projects die. This happens all the time and there is nothing wrong with that. If it has a free enough license it can come back when the time is right (and if it hasn't, rewrite it using a free license
It is also fully acceptable to fork projects or start a new one whenever you feel like it. Freedom that isn't exercised (especially if the reason is some patriotic bullshit like 'not weakening the community') isn't much freedom. Yeah, often the reasons for forking are stupid (e.g ReWind), but the freedom of being stupid and bearing responsibility for that is one of the few ways to learn something.
I don't agree that we would have significantly better Desktops/flash/X11/whatever with more donations/ad clicks/commercial products. I think more users becoming developers and taking matters into their own hands is much preferable. This way they wouldn't have to feel so helpless and could have fun instead of complaining. I'm serious when I suggest working on gnash instead of whining about missing Adobe support. This is the ultimate gift of freedom. His recipe 'users reguarly forking over money and hooraying the stinking results' is exactly the Steve Jobs business model.
In the end he either doesn't understand free software or he actually is just annoyed with his low click rates. Then he should better start an Apple fanboy blog. (Though IMO making money with advertising is one of the most evil things you can do today. Letting everybody pay for your personal gain, just like dumping toxic waste in the ocean.)
I'm not saying users should not donate, but they need not fear letting projects die. This happens all the time and there is nothing wrong with that. If it has a free enough license it can come back when the time is right (and if it hasn't, rewrite it using a free license
It is also fully acceptable to fork projects or start a new one whenever you feel like it. Freedom that isn't exercised (especially if the reason is some patriotic bullshit like 'not weakening the community') isn't much freedom. Yeah, often the reasons for forking are stupid (e.g ReWind), but the freedom of being stupid and bearing responsibility for that is one of the few ways to learn something.I don't agree that we would have significantly better Desktops/flash/X11/whatever with more donations/ad clicks/commercial products. I think more users becoming developers and taking matters into their own hands is much preferable. This way they wouldn't have to feel so helpless and could have fun instead of complaining. I'm serious when I suggest working on gnash instead of whining about missing Adobe support. This is the ultimate gift of freedom. His recipe 'users reguarly forking over money and hooraying the stinking results' is exactly the Steve Jobs business model.
In the end he either doesn't understand free software or he actually is just annoyed with his low click rates. Then he should better start an Apple fanboy blog. (Though IMO making money with advertising is one of the most evil things you can do today. Letting everybody pay for your personal gain, just like dumping toxic waste in the ocean.)
ekianjo
Hardcore Member
Jr you are missing the point. There are tons of open source projects which die with noone taking them over. Just check on sourceforge you will see its just a big cemetary.
I know. I claim there is no problem. Someone started these projects, someone was creative and had fun. Then often the fun stopped (sometimes before it started). This is great. It makes the world a better place.
I once found a Dungeon Master like game in Java where Development just stopped. But they published the source and I could have some fun with it, fixing some bugs, playtesting it. It isn't neccessary to polish it enough to be really playable to gain something from it. And I'm sure the original developers had at least as much fun, though I've never known them.
I also have made quite a lot of patches for git 5 years ago, but never had the time to clean and publish them. Now they are mostly obsolete, because the interfaces changed or the problem was solved one way or another. That shouldn't make anybody unhappy. It doesn't make me unhappy. I seldom had more fun in my life. Git's design is so amazingly beautiful in its simplicity. And following the mailing list a while has given me lots of insight.
I do like software very much (if you didn't guess that already It doesn't require active development or users to be valuable and beautiful. (Though I'm a little sad if it gets lost)
Think of it like nature or music or your small kid's first paintings.
That's why the article has the wrong perspective IMO. It's just making him grumpy with the feeling of a missed opportunity. This 'waste' was always happening, the opportunity was never real. The internet just makes the phenomenon visible. But isn't an 'art cemetary' a good thing?
I once found a Dungeon Master like game in Java where Development just stopped. But they published the source and I could have some fun with it, fixing some bugs, playtesting it. It isn't neccessary to polish it enough to be really playable to gain something from it. And I'm sure the original developers had at least as much fun, though I've never known them.
I also have made quite a lot of patches for git 5 years ago, but never had the time to clean and publish them. Now they are mostly obsolete, because the interfaces changed or the problem was solved one way or another. That shouldn't make anybody unhappy. It doesn't make me unhappy. I seldom had more fun in my life. Git's design is so amazingly beautiful in its simplicity. And following the mailing list a while has given me lots of insight.
I do like software very much (if you didn't guess that already
It doesn't require active development or users to be valuable and beautiful. (Though I'm a little sad if it gets lost)Think of it like nature or music or your small kid's first paintings.
That's why the article has the wrong perspective IMO. It's just making him grumpy with the feeling of a missed opportunity. This 'waste' was always happening, the opportunity was never real. The internet just makes the phenomenon visible. But isn't an 'art cemetary' a good thing?
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