The Problem With Free Software

A small group of people who cause issues in the community.

Louis Rossman made a recent video talking about his frustration with a small group of people within the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) community. Feel free to watch the linked video for more info, where he talks about the issue in more detail. To keep it simple, he was encouraging people to donate money to a FOSS project, to which someone in the comment section got mad at him and thought FOSS projects shouldn't get money.

To be clear, this is a small group of people in the community. Most people have the common sense to know that nothing is wrong with getting community funding. There is some amazing free software - developed by talented people who want to make something in their free time. One example I've talked about at length is the open source firewall, Simplewall. Let's break this issue down.

Why Make FOSS

There's three main reasons people make free software.

First, many people use this is a way to gain experience in programming and to have something to put on their resume. It's common advice to tell someone seeking an IT job to make a GitHub project and link it on the resume. It's great for the applicant to have some extra experience and something to show, and it's great for employers to see that someone is able to do said thing. This can even extend to other areas like game mods. Alexander Velicky made the Falskaar mod for Skyrim and got hired by Bungie as a result.

Second, some people make free software to be able to contribute something positive to the world. The late author, David Graeber, wrote a book called Bullshit Jobs. The point of the book was how society is riddled with pointless work and how it sucks the soul out of people. Not everyone gives in though. Some try to find a way to do something with meaning - FOSS can fall into that category.

Third, some people want to just make something to get some experience and get feedback on what they made. There's not a bigger meaning to the project other than that. A hobbyist who wants to learn some Python would be an example.

The idea that someone starts a FOSS project with the intent of monetizing it is rare. People know this isn't a good path to try to monetize and the rare edge case isn't going to be favored in the community. The vocal minority Louis mentioned will try to act like this is a much bigger deal than it is.

Louis was right to point out the entitlement of the person who left the comment on his video. Once in a while, I'll see someone in a Reddit thread complaining about a FOSS dev asking for money. For emphasis - this is rare and people are quick to point out the issue with this thinking.

The problem comes from people who expect others to give them free shit. A FOSS dev has absolutely no obligation to make or update a piece of software for someone. Here's a related example - once in a while, I'll play a match in Hearts of Iron. The Steam Workshop has some great mods for it that completely change the way it works. Old World Blues is one of the best examples.

When a new update for HoI releases, there's a slew of people who ask when an update is going to release. If the dev delays a response more than a few days, people become demanding. They never bother to consider the dev might have a full time job, family obligations, or just be busy with life. They're not there to cater to every want that a complainer has.

Once in a while, a dev will leave the community because they get annoyed with all the people who act like that. Others will ban people or flame them for acting like that, which then get's hate threads made against the dev from people who don't understand the situation. This is something that happened to the Simplewall dev, henrypp, because of threads like this. I don't take issues with devs who eventually become blunt with people who are off base.

Money And Software

Software is extremely time consuming and expensive to made. Things like MacOS, Windows, Davinci Resolve, etc, have had massive investments to get them where they are. Even though I don't agree with everything MS has done with Windows, they've spent billions over the years to develop it. A simple piece of software can be made by someone, but you'll never see something like Photoshop or Firefox be made by a single dev. The time cost alone is greater than one person can handle.

Unless there's a pile of FOSS devs behind something significant like Linux, software like that wouldn't exist without money being invested. Even then, companies such as Red Hat have put a ton of money into its development. Money isn't something evil, it's just a tool. If it's used properly, it's a good tool to have.

When the vocal minority whines about a dev asking for support, they are gatekeeping and holding back FOSS as a whole. Louis talked about this in his video - to attract bigger investments and more people to the community, it requires an open mind and a willingness to let new people in. When people gatekeep what they think is or isn't right in their eyes, it sours people on wanting to get more involved in FOSS.

I like what Asmongold says about this matter - you can't reason someone out of a position they didn't reason themselves into.

Wrapping Up

Louis said in his video that if people want to have a piece of software with devs who are involved with the community and not a corp looking for a cash grab, people need to be more willing to support the projects they like. I agree 100% with that. I would rather see a dev make a great piece of software and get enough money to pay their bills, rather than give money to a corp who will phone in the software itself and sell my data for extra money. The complainers don't have logic behind their thinking regarding devs asking for support.

Anyway, that's a wrap. Have a good weekend and I'll see you next Saturday! 🍻