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That "Linux transmissions" joke is both funny and on-point. No one has to design a new transmission from scratch, and then struggle to sell enough copies of it to survive as a business. Instead, everyone can and does build upon other people's work. It's the only way anyone can afford to do what's being done today.
Sometimes, a company will build an entire subsystem and then give it away. But then, someone else builds something to add to it – and the original contributor can simply take that and use it, too.
Last edited by sundialsvcs; 06-02-2022 at 07:24 AM.
Sometimes, a company will build an entire subsystem and then give it away. But then, someone else builds something to add to it – and the original contributor can simply take that and use it, too.
Absolutely true! Consider possibly the most important thing Steve Jobs ever did for Apple - using the liberal BSD license to clone to OS/X, for almost no expense for an estimated value upon the very first day with no sales track record of (sorry, sundialsvcs, I know you dislike "billions" but) $30,000,000,000.00 USD. !!! Now that's a return on investment!
Anyone who thought the guy who "stole" the GUI and the Mouse was a One Trick Pony was obviously sadly mistaken.
Apple had spent many years developing and maintaining a proprietary OS for the original Macintosh, which it called "MacOS" and which ended with "System 9." In typical Apple fashion, they made a clean break with their past by introducing "OS/X." (It would be years later before they felt comfortable re-using the "MacOS" trademark for this entirely new thing.)
But it was a brilliant move to base their system on an open source Unix® variety, "Darwin," which Apple continues to maintain as "open source." They could and did leverage this same system to create the foundations of "iOS," "Apple TV," and many other new ventures. Apple continues to host several other open-source projects representing the foundation layers of their core technologies. To me, that is "very good business."
Last edited by sundialsvcs; 06-03-2022 at 01:15 PM.
You pay for it in some way, usually with problems / inconveniences with running the other side of things.
So what you're saying is that it's not truly free because you have to learn how it works, and the way it works doesn't match what you "know" about computers.
Yes, you're right. It's a bitter pill, but it's the truth.
I've been playing DOS & Windows games under Linux for >20 years. It's there and yours for the taking, but as you said there's some learning to be done.
As others mentioned, free has different meanings to different people.
But consider that apart from the software, you have the cost of the computer, electricity and the internet provider. Therefore free is not exactly free as the software alone cannot be used without a device.
I was pondering something this morning. I enjoy many of my games which all belong on Windows. I've always been hacking at it, got wine mostly doing what I want. But I realized something. There is no such thing as truly free software. The license doesn't mean anything. It's meaningless that the code is available to anyone for no cost.
The reason it isn't really free is because you do have to pay a price of sorts. While many people are very devoted to an ideal or something (which is commendable) some people just want to use the superior system. I am one of those. The price that we all pay regardless of viewpoint is being locked into whatever OS your favorite / preferred software was built for. An open source enthusiast wouldn't likely run a closed os (windows) even if they only used open software on it. A closed source person wouldn't likely run an open source operating system when everything they need is closed. Not to say that they are mutually exclusive but at the end of the day the idea of free software is just a phrase and nothing more. You pay for it in some way, usually with problems / inconveniences with running the other side of things.
I've been fighting to get a near perfect scenario for myself and I loathe the idea of dual booting. You always have to give something up. How important that is is different for each of us. But at the end of the day there is no such thing as truly free choice with software and operating systems.
I will try to give a metaphor related to my work: you can learn a language by paying for a high quality teacher, or, you can choose some free of charge resources or volunteer native speakers.
There are no good programs for language self-learning (except for English), but if you are lucky enough, you might find some of very rare high quality teachers among volunteers.
If you are not lucky enough, you will just waist your time, which is a nasty form of payment.
In the case you needed that knowledge for some exam, visa or a job - the price will be much higher compared to what you would have payed to a pricey quality teacher.
So far, Deepin seems to be that last mentioned, unfortunately.
No quality support on this forum either.
My mother apparently "had the necessary gene" and could speak four languages fluently.
Apparently, I did not.
your mother had better education, when it comes to languages.
I speak 4 languages fluently, and learning 3 more at the time.
My daughter has issues with learning languages. She did have pretty shitty teachers during her education, though.
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