Marek Novotny
On 2017-09-07, Doomsdrzej <me@home.is>wrote:

Doomsdrzej
On Thu, 07 Sep 2017 08:29:24 -0500, chrisv wrote:

chrisv
Doomsdrzej wrote:

Doomsdrzej
As such, I keep getting drawn back to Linux. Windows works better for certain things and is especially better for gaming, but the use of proprietary software, honestly, goes against my principles.

chrisv
There is nothing wrong with proprietary software, per se. Certainly, the paranoid will always prefer OSS.

Doomsdrzej
Ten years ago, I wouldn't have believed that the producers of proprietary software are secretly putting something in there to spy on users and sell our private data. In 2017, I'm no longer as naive.

Marek Novotny
Glad to hear it. You now see that these companies will take any liberty they like to get what they want. Look at how the car companies faked better results on their smog emissions. This is the world we live in. Look how Uber was monitoring people even after the ride. How many times did Apple learn the hard way that developers were using APIs they shouldn't be in order to collect data on their users. You guys should be glad Linux exists at all. If you ever decide that Microsoft is evil, isn't it nice that there is a choice out there for you go to?

Doomsdrzej
I still think that the people behind excellent software should be remunerated,

chrisv
They are compensated "well enough", or they wouldn't do it. However, nature of these markets means that most cutting-edge or specialty/prefessional software will be closed-source.

Doomsdrzej
I'm the type of guy who would donate to someone like Clement Lefebvre, who does a spectacular job with Linux Mint, even if someone told me that he was compensated well enough. At the end of the day, he's using his own personal time to provide the world with a great product without any guarantee that he will receive money for it. Such a leap of faith deserves to be rewarded, in my opinion.

Marek Novotny
A lot of these guys have other rewards in mind in addition to donations, which they do need. Often it's just awesome to see people using something you created. It makes you feel like you make a difference in this world.

Doomsdrzej
but I would hope that in exchange these people would be willing to allow an experienced, ethical programmer to look at the code if there was even a doubt that the software was working against the user.

chrisv
Not a very practical solution, really.

Doomsdrzej
I know, but we can all have our ideals.

Marek Novotny
-- Marek Novotny https://github.com/marek-novotny