Pluralistic: "If buying isn't owning, piracy isn't stealing"

kpw@kbin.social to Technology@lemmy.world – 1729 points –
pluralistic.net

The ability to change features, prices, and availability of things you've already paid for is a powerful temptation to corporations.

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Why don't you just gift away your software than? That's an honest question. You obviously aren't expecting to be paid for it, do you think in general developers shouldn't earn money with software or is it just you?

Why don’t you just gift away your software than?

Because I don't make those decisions; my employer does. They ought to give it away, but they don't.

(The software I've worked on has tended to be either (a) tools for internal company use or (b) stuff used by the government/large companies where the revenue would definitely have come from a support contract even if the code itself were free.)

ParsnipWitch seems to have been eaten by a grue.

So, you would work for free for your employer?

That question is a red herring. My employer isn't paying me to write software; they're paying me to write the software they want instead of the software I want to make.

I am a system engineer who works on a project that is open source, AMA

The writer whose article is the subject of this post releases his books without DRM. He ends his podcast with a quote encouraging piracy. I found him because of an earlier book he released under a share alike licence

He has found that piracy increases the reach of his message, and increases his sales

That doesn't answer my questions.

Your question is irrelevant as claiming "you either support 100% paid or you support 100% free distribution" is a false dichotomy.

Software developer who gives away my software for free as Free and Open Source Software. I agree with the grand-grand-parent comment.