aevaAug 14, 2024

#poll Have you ever paid for software when it was optional to do so?

EDIT: If you only occasionally pay for software when it is optional, please reply with what sorts of software you typically do and don't pay for.

yes, always
7.9%
yes, but only rarely
78%
no, but maybe some day
9.6%
no, lol
4.5%
Poll ended at .
Show threadaevaAug 14, 2024
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Show threadaevaAug 15, 2024

I think it is probably safe to call it here. The overwhelming majority of you support the development of software you use to varying degrees of "sometimes", which is pretty cool.

From the replies to this thread, I gather it's relatively common for people to only support projects that are already relatively mature and popular, which is an interesting chicken and egg problem. Also you don't get anything if you don't ask, but it works better if the asking doesn't feel extractive. Not surprising

Show threadaevaAug 15, 2024
Lots of people also unsurprisingly strongly prefer one-off donations or payments instead of recurring ones to support long term development, but are also often vocal about how they are entitled to updates and improvements long term. That seems to imply that "growth" is the unsaid expectation of how a project should be funded long term.
Show threadaevaAug 15, 2024
It seems like applications that people interact with directly have the best shot at being funded through a pay-what-you-want or donation based model. Within that, games have a bit of an advantage over regular applications by more commonly having an end date to their development without being considered "abandoned".
Show threadaevaAug 15, 2024
Not a lot of mention of funding libraries, middleware, and critical infrastructure though. I guess most folks just assume that's someone else's problem
Show threadaevaAug 15, 2024
The part where many people tend to expect the software to already be relatively mature and high impact to give support leaves an open question of how new development is meant to be funded, since it takes a lot of work to get there. I suppose that's where stuff like grants come in. It's a shame society is set up so the general population is coerced into being a cheap labor source for the whims of the wealthy, or we'd probably have a lot more high impact R&D happening outside of corporations.
Show threadaevaAug 15, 2024
For the folks splitting hairs on "more than rarely": if you're on Linux there's probably a few thousand libraries on your computer that are necessary for your computer to be able to do all the things you want it to do. This is probably true for other operating systems, but Windows doesn't list them all every time it runs updates lol. Based on the replies, I'm very skeptical that this many people go out of their way to donate to anything resembling more than a tiny minority of those projects.
Show threadjahn

@aeva I think part of the problem regarding system dependencies is most people don't tend to think about them until they break, or there's something wrong.

Sort of like how we don't pay much mind to who processed/manufactured the cement, wood, bolts, screws, wire, etc. that piece together most of the physical things around us.

There's a seemingly insurmountable disconnection once networks of people and their collective work grow beyond a certain scope of breadth, depth, or complexity. In this problem, software runs on software runs on software. Eventually you get to metal, but after how many layers? Calls?

This problem extends to any structure of people. If there's a hierarchy of people, labor, parts, or goods - and there always is - you'll find this issue of increasingly absent awareness and accountability.

I have no solution, but I couldn't help but chew on it for a bit. It's a mirror image of some other problems we face today.

Aug 15, 2024 at 7:00pmWeb
Show threadTabAug 16, 2024
@jahn @aeva a universal basic income would at least raise the bar for every developer (thus including the hidden ones).