‹ BackHN Continuity

Thread

Nobody pays for FOSS, we can force them to

196 points · 209 comments · Muhammad523

  1. cocodill · · focus · HN ↗
    I think I'm starting to forget, but could someone maybe tell me what the F in FOSS stands for?
    1. mrob · · focus · HN ↗
      "Free as in speech, not free as in beer."

      I'm not reading an AI slop article, but there's nothing in either the Free Software Definition or the Open Source Definition restricting the selling of software. It does prevent you from restricting people from sharing that software once they've bought it, but you could always use a threshold pledge system to ensure you get enough money before releasing anything:

      <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Threshold_pledge_system" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Threshold_pledge_system

      1. cocodill · · focus · HN ↗
        &gt; &quot;Free as in speech, not free as in beer.&quot;

        As I understand it, if you have the first, the second follows from it. So it&#x27;s effectively the same.

        1. mrob · · focus · HN ↗
          Not the same at all. Free as in beer means you get nothing. Free as in speech allows you to get as much money as you can using a threshold pledge system. This isn&#x27;t just theoretical: the famous 3D modelling software Blender was released this way, becoming Free Software only after a €100,000 payment.
          1. cocodill · · focus · HN ↗
            Sorry, I phrased it badly. I meant that in practice free-as-in-speech implies free-as-in-beer for copies: once anyone can redistribute the code.
Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.