[ffpip]

> Having pro versions where you can change colors defeats the idea of open source

Do you have any other ways the developer can make a living?

AFAIK the pro features (excluding the closed source 3rd party SDKs) are all open source. You can build them on your own or download it off F-Droid.

[newsch]

For what it's worth, when I modified the dialer app to add a feature the developer didn't want, I discovered that there is a nag built into every screen that triggers randomly for "unofficial" versions: https://github.com/SimpleMobileTools/Simple-Commons/blob/5ad...

[feanaro]

I'm seriously surprised by the number of people here not understanding what free software / open source means.

The tag line is literally "free as in freedom, not as in beer". How is it possible to miss this?

[suprjami]

Free as in freeloading

[unethical_ban]

The problem is marketing it as if it will be free and ad free, then restricting its capability based on price while notifying users to upgrade. It's a bait and switch.

[thow34wqway]

> Do you have any other ways the developer can make a living?

Yes. Sell commercial software or If the developer cares about open source then charge for support. Its a disservice IMO to make the user install for free and then ask them money to use other features wasting users time. There is a incentive to make worst product in the free version which goes against the principle of opensource.

[metalliqaz]

I am an oss dev. I make a living at my day job.

[mort96]

Same here. As a result, the vast majority of my programming effort goes into my day job, and my OSS projects are critically understaffed.

Which works okay for me and my projects, but if I wanted them to be serious players in the market rather than just side projects, I would need to find a way to earn money in a way which doesn't eat most of my time.

Personally, I want FOSS software to be able to be serious players in the market. Therefore, I want them to have enough developer resources to make that possible. Therefore, they need to make money.

[nerdyadventurer]

> Personally, I want FOSS software to be able to be serious players in the market. Therefore, I want them to have enough developer resources to make that possible. Therefore, they need to make money.

I agree. I do not see anything wrong with earning money from open source software, lots of companies do it. Open source is always good for transparency than proprietary closed software. We should support open source devs to be successful, as you said, to go against proprietary monopolies.

[mburee]

Exactly, if you don't want to develop open source software, just don't do it

[phalangion]

And if you don’t like how someone manages their open source software, don’t use it.

[teknopaul]

That's what peeps here are recommending. Save yourself a download if you are used to the normal OS model.

[cinntaile]

It doesn't mean you have to do it for free, even if you develop open source software.

[djbusby]

Not every developer has a day job.

[cortesoft]

If they want to make money from their programming, they should get one.

[vorpalhex]

If you want nice software, you should use your day job money and support the people who make it.

[cortesoft]

I contribute to open source by writing it and participating in the community, not by spending dollars.

[notyourday]

Alas, neither my grocery store nor does my landlord care about nice feels. Hence I do HTTP 402 Pay me.

[lupire]

That's what OP did.

[ffpip]

Working on this suite of apps might be his day job. If he takes up a day job he might not be able to work on and maintain these many apps.

Can you develop and maintain a suite of 8-10 apps only on your free time? I was talking about how this specific developer who makes these many apps can make money, and not how you do.