> And that's what the community does't get: the last 20% is the hard bit
I think a lot of people in OSS do get that, but in many ways it's significantly harder to do that last 20% in an open source project than it is for a proprietary software company to do it.
But ultimately I don't care that much, honestly. If you don't get what you need out of open source, that's fine. You not using it isn't a problem for me or for my own open source work. As long as there are enough users to keep communities going and developers interested, that's all that matters.
> and the above is the last 20% and it has never even once in the history of OSS got anywhere even remotely near that.
That's provably false, and it's pretty annoying when people make uninformed absolutist statements like that.
> No one cares about the political purity and ideology behind it.
A lot of people do. No, not a majority, and maybe not even a largely sizeable minority, but it's very very far from "no one". If you don't, I guess that's fine. I hope your proprietary software continues to do what you need and want, and that your needs and interests continue to be aligned with what those software companies want to give you. That hasn't been true for me for a very long time now, but certainly people have different needs and different thresholds for it to matter. But if that changes, feel fortunate that all the work we've done will still be available for you to take advantage of.
> The job of the computer is to free us from slavery and everyone seems to have bloody well forgotten that.
Your use of the word "slavery" is a bit bizarre and overwrought, but it's funny you say something like this. Open source software is the only kind of software that's going to respect your freedom. Proprietary software never will. You're at the whims of its makers, and can never take control of your own computing destiny.
Like the sibling said, I guess that doesn't matter to you now. But maybe it will, someday, when the game changes yet again.
As I've said elsewhere, your data is the important bit. And at least in my case that is 100% portable. The winds of change are inevitable, but you can move house without too much hassle.
If think you can trust your data with a bunch of proprietary software companies, I'm not sure what to tell you.
> And at least in my case that is 100% portable
For now. Time and time again I see stories where people think they have redundant copies of everything important, and can reconstruct things when a company pulls out the rug out from under them, only to find they're missing something important.
Maybe you aren't. Great, good for you. You represent a teeny tiny percentage of the sum of proprietary software users. Again, I'm glad you believe you're safe and happy with the arrangement you have, but you're uncommon, and that's the entire point.
And for me, it's not just portability. Most companies are going to mine your data, use it to train AI, sell it to third parties, whatever they think will make them money. Or they just get hacked, like everyone does, eventually. You can protect yourself from that with open source. Not saying you don't still have to be vigilant, of course you do... but with proprietary software? Well, best of luck with that. Even with Apple, one of the few companies I think are reasonably trustworthy stewards of customer data, despite all the other issues I have with that company.
I think a lot of people in OSS do get that, but in many ways it's significantly harder to do that last 20% in an open source project than it is for a proprietary software company to do it.
But ultimately I don't care that much, honestly. If you don't get what you need out of open source, that's fine. You not using it isn't a problem for me or for my own open source work. As long as there are enough users to keep communities going and developers interested, that's all that matters.
> and the above is the last 20% and it has never even once in the history of OSS got anywhere even remotely near that.
That's provably false, and it's pretty annoying when people make uninformed absolutist statements like that.
> No one cares about the political purity and ideology behind it.
A lot of people do. No, not a majority, and maybe not even a largely sizeable minority, but it's very very far from "no one". If you don't, I guess that's fine. I hope your proprietary software continues to do what you need and want, and that your needs and interests continue to be aligned with what those software companies want to give you. That hasn't been true for me for a very long time now, but certainly people have different needs and different thresholds for it to matter. But if that changes, feel fortunate that all the work we've done will still be available for you to take advantage of.
> The job of the computer is to free us from slavery and everyone seems to have bloody well forgotten that.
Your use of the word "slavery" is a bit bizarre and overwrought, but it's funny you say something like this. Open source software is the only kind of software that's going to respect your freedom. Proprietary software never will. You're at the whims of its makers, and can never take control of your own computing destiny.
Like the sibling said, I guess that doesn't matter to you now. But maybe it will, someday, when the game changes yet again.