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General Software Discussion / Re: CNET Download Installer Changes
« Last post by Renegade on December 15, 2011, 10:49 PM »+1
I can only imagine the turmoil in some F/OSS projects right now. Seriously, once you throw money into a F/OSS project, it is pretty much done for. Any F/OSS project must be strictly non-commercial. The ones I've founded (with community participants) don't even accept donations, as that can be acrimonious. Who gets all the revenue from these bundles ... Well, dunno. Evenly dividing it in a way that is fair would be impossible, you'd never please everybody, and everyone would be left with a sour taste in their mouth.
Freeware is more concerning for me. Soon everything will be freeware with strings attached -- strings attached that the average Joe doesn't understand are bad for society as a whole. The practice should be outlawed, though I can't imagine how you'd draft a bill outlawing such. I consider *all bundles malware because they violate user intent*. That's my personal opinion as of today. Maybe I'm forced to change my opinion in the years to come, or maybe people will start waking up and quit being so darn greedy. And, yes, I do call it greedy if you freely give something away, then want to profit from it. If you want to profit, don't make it free.-db90h (December 15, 2011, 08:33 PM)
Hehehe~! I think it would be harder for us to be more diametrically opposed on this topic~!
For some FOSS software, let's say GPL for the sake of argument, I don't see why the authors shouldn't get paid somehow.
There's more than one way to make money, and if you're doing it above board, then I don't see a problem.
At the end of the day, are you hurting people? Are you taking advantage of them?
End users need to assume some kind of responsibility too though. I think it's a cop out to say that users don't understand blah blah blah. If you're going to use a chainsaw, and you don't know how to use one, and you cut your leg off, well who do you have to blame? The chainsaw? hardly.
Same for computers. There's a certain minimum amount of knowledge that you need to have to use one competently. If you don't know what an installer is, and can't read the EULA and installation screens... Well... sheesh. Like if I give someone a chocolate bar, and they stick it in their ear, how the heck do I get blamed because they don't know what their mouth is for?
Yeah... you need to be careful to make sure that you're being upfront and honest about things, but sheesh... There's only so much that you can do without just doing silly things. e.g. You don't want to have 5 extra screens that all say, "Are you sure? Like, really sure?", "Totally and 100% sure?", "Last chance..."
There are some scummy people out there doing scummy things. But there are also good ones as well. It's pretty much case by case.
There are lots of software authors that write malware. But that doesn't make all software authors bad people. Socrates has a beard. Socrates is mortal. Therefore all mortals have beards.
Now, regarding this:
If you want to profit, don't make it free.
The why not ban virtually all web sites? If people want to profit from them, they can convert them to subscription sites. Let's start with banning Google or labeling it as malware...
Ok. That's a bit ridiculous (although the way personal information is collected now does make you wonder...), but I think you get the point.
People scream bloody murder about virtually everything done in the desktop world, but you can have a virtual mass murder spree on the web, and nobody bats an eyelash.
Kill one and you're a murderer. Kill a thousand and you're a hero.
There needs to be some kind of balance.
