Let me pay for Firefox

(discourse.mozilla.org)

802 points csmantle | 1 comments | 13 Jul 25 08:38 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source

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pabzu ◴[13 Jul 25 09:48 UTC] No.44548934[source]▶

The post seems to present a false dichotomy:

    FOSS leads to enshittification, advertising, and bad practices.

    Paid software ensures quality assurance.

I believe counter-examples exist for both models. Many FOSS projects have avoided becoming tools for user exploitation, while numerous paid software products have deteriorated due to corporate greed.

replies(3): >>44548972 #>>44548994 #>>44549011 #

moffkalast ◴[13 Jul 25 10:03 UTC] No.44549011[source]▶

>>44548934 #

If anything the average is the exact opposite. Venture capital ensures enshittification to recoup costs.

replies(1): >>44549143 #

1. rthrfrd ◴[13 Jul 25 10:25 UTC] No.44549143[source]▶

>>44549011 #

The problem is that a lot of the most influential FOSS only exists because of VC capital (or other dysfunctional markets), either because they sponsor projects directly, or they pay the salaries of the people who happen to do it themselves. FOSS has become a form of economic dumping that could be causing more harm than good. If Google couldn’t “dump” Chrome for free, or Facebook couldn’t “dump” React for free, maybe browsers or front-end frameworks would be regular, functional, competitive markets. Making it “FOSS” is just an inoculation against what would otherwise be considered an anti-competitive practice.

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