[phkahler]

As a software developer ones job is to edit code. The way to get paid for that are to fix things that are broken or add features. While support can be viable, good software should "just work" and not need support. Any other business model is simply trying to collect rent. An effort to "monetize" the software is an effort to collect money from its existence rather than doing work on it.

I couldn't really find the point to this guys blog other than he doesn't like people with extreme views because they conflict with his own. He like the world created by those people though.

There was this gem:

>> The main challenge remains getting the word out. Unfortunately, the fundamentalist FOSS mentality we encountered on Reddit is still alive and well. Some Linux blogs and Podcasts simply won’t give us the time of day. This is not a problem with the mainstream tech blogs and is a problem unique to Linux.

I'm not even sure why it's a problem. Not every tech blog or podcast wants to promote his product - OK. But why is that problem? He's just unhappy that people exist that don't want what he's selling. Welcome to planet earth dude.

The original piece also has this:

>> The more obvious fragmentation problem is still a barrier to success. Snaps don’t cover some well known distros — Redhat, CentOS and Gentoo to name a few.

Said the guy writing an email client for Microsoft Exchange. He's actually making a living filling a gap caused by fragmentation and claims fragmentation is a problem.

He's just whining. As am I.

[TimJYoung]

Nobody is going to use software for anything critical that doesn't have someone "waiting around" to fix any bugs that appear, even if they are several years down the line from the original release (and yes, this happens a lot). So, what you call "rent" is, in actuality, the cost of keeping the lights on and the original developers around so that such long-term support can be provided. And yes, these same developers can and do provide new features (which can also introduce new bugs, thus restarting the clock) during that same time.

This isn't to say that software companies don't exist that just milk the hell out of their customer base. But, that's a problem with any industry, not just software, and is an economic phenomenon, not something intrinsically bad about proprietary software. Typically, it's a problem with a lack of competition and the ability of incumbents to erect artificial barriers to such competition.

[seba_dos1]

> Nobody is going to use software for anything critical that doesn't have someone "waiting around" to fix any bugs that appear

This is exactly why you're often able to make money and sustain yourself out of free software.

[TimJYoung]

Most companies do not want to deal with the hassle of finding someone to perform support/bug fix work on their software. They want to be able to call up a vendor and get an answer today about a bug fix or support. Most open source projects do not have this level of support.

[seba_dos1]

...and those that do are often making money out of it.

[pjmlp]

Not really, because there are thousand others that can out offer you.

[icebraining]

That's also a selling point, though, especially if you're a small company. Knowing that they weren't locked in to us, and therefore helpless if we closed or pivoted, helped sell our services many times.