Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by delfinom 403 days ago
That's the thing though, this isn't really "free" software as much as open. NRK is funding it and created it for their use, that's cost money. They spent money on supporting the hardware they clearly had and wanted to for their production. Any other user with their own setups they want supported will have to spend money on developer time as well.
3 comments
simonw 403 days ago
Free software has a well established meaning at this point, and it's not "didn't cost any money to produce".

Looks like this is MIT licensed https://github.com/nrkno/Sofie-TV-automation

link
Joel_Mckay 403 days ago
Indeed, people usually contribute to FOSS by supporting the authors group or nonprofit directly, and contributing features and bug reports/fixes.

However, from a maintainability standpoint it is important that a project solves their own needs first. The "eat your own dog food" advice is important, or groups end up fragmenting a project into every pet use-case.

Best regards =3

link
rjmunro 403 days ago
It was mostly developed for NRK by Superfly.tv. They are available to extend the system to other hardware or customise it in other ways if the broadcaster doesn't have the expertise to do it themselves. It's already used by several other broadcasters, for example, the BBC use it for their Newsround program: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ryanwmckenna_great-to-see-new...
link
antonvs 402 days ago
"Free software" is a term of art in the software industry: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software

The definition on that page is accurate:

Free software "allows users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, distribute it and any adapted versions. Free software is a matter of liberty, not price; all users are legally free to do what they want with their copies of a free software (including profiting from them) regardless of how much is paid to obtain the program."

link