fbszSep 15, 2023

Bad business model behind open source softwares

https://lemmy.ml/post/4961787

Bad business model behind open source softwares - Lemmy

The principles behind free and open source software has all been ‘knowledge and information should be free and accessible to everyone’, ‘the user should’ve the freedom to study, edit, share’, ‘collaboration’. These principles are nice and the people who admire this principles create free(as in freedom) software, but when we look at the finances behind free softwares, things are messed up. Most services rely on donations, which is not good but when the amount of free services increase, the more there has to be donate. It’s actually problem because the bad business model of the open source has made it’s software fall behind their propreitory alternatives? Here are my few questions and would be nice if you all provide a solution to some questions: 1. What is the philosophy of open source and free software? 2. Why open source softwares are bad at making money? 3. Is there a business model, besides subscription as many people can’t pay? Or am I wrong here? 4. Solutions proposed to solve this problem 5. Some examples of bad and good open source business model and whether it’s good or bad than their mainstream propreitory alternatives?

Show threadfubo

Not every productive human activity is a business model.

If you get together with your friends and bake a cake together, that’s not a business model. You still get a cake out of it, though.

Sep 15, 2023 at 3:34pmWeb
Show threadfbszSep 15, 2023
agree, the software would be good if it’s not focused on making money! But it would be good and the software would innovate if it has a viable business model!
Show threadblazeraSep 15, 2023

But it would be good and the software would innovate if it has a viable business model!

That is in no way a given

Show threadfbszSep 15, 2023
the software developer who developed the project as a passion project may start developing it full time and we get a good software which is open source!
Show threadTootSweetSep 15, 2023
Disagree.
Show threadcomedySep 15, 2023
Dammit, now I'm hungry for cake 😵‍💫
Show threadPantherinaSep 15, 2023
Hmm, but if you bake a cake, free recipe, and ship it on the internet for free, competing with people selling cakes, thats a problem.
Show threadfuboSep 15, 2023
Not for me, and not for the other people who like baking cakes at home instead of buying them, it’s not.
Show threadPantherinaSep 16, 2023
Hmm, but cake is also a very easy thing to do. Bad analogy, sorry
Show threadsolarvectorSep 15, 2023

I think everyone involved would also download a car.

Humans enjoy collaborating and sharing. It doesn’t have to be transactional.

Show threadBaconIsAVegSep 15, 2023

Not necessarily. If all I wanted was ‘cake’, then sure, I’d go for the free cake and the people selling cakes would lose out.

But the people who are selling cakes have to give me a reason to buy from them. It has to be a better tasting cake, it has to be delivered faster, it has to be fresher. If the people selling cakes can’t do that, then it’s their shitty business model, and not the fault of the people giving cakes away for free.

Show threadPantherinaSep 16, 2023
Haha I would not say Adobes Tracking DRM webapps are better than Gimp :D its so brutal, you need to weaken Portmaster nearly completely to be able to run these apps
Show threaderwanSep 16, 2023

The point is not that it’s better, it’s that enough people decide to pay for Photoshop despite Gimp existing.

So Photoshop is providing value for some people and they believe it’s worth paying to get it over Gimp.