Path: csiph.com!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!i2pn.org!i2pn2.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: D Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.advocacy Subject: Re: GIMP 3.0.0-RC1 Date: Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:32:45 +0100 Organization: i2pn2 (i2pn.org) Message-ID: <5e47730d-e78c-c700-a130-708ff33db14f@example.net> References: <1814c96a2531ed89$71164$2566989$802601b3@news.usenetexpress.com> <441smjp44l5o2ja4c1vlsv32oh2j6m9n4j@4ax.com> <3co24lx2vn.ln2@Telcontar.valinor> <67708431@news.ausics.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Injection-Info: i2pn2.org; logging-data="1005117"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@i2pn2.org"; posting-account="w/4CleFT0XZ6XfSuRJzIySLIA6ECskkHxKUAYDZM66M"; X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 4.0.0 In-Reply-To: <67708431@news.ausics.net> Xref: csiph.com comp.os.linux.misc:63280 comp.os.linux.advocacy:681575 On Sun, 29 Dec 2024, Computer Nerd Kev wrote: > In comp.os.linux.misc D wrote: >> On Fri, 27 Dec 2024, Andrzej Matuch wrote: >>> On 2024-12-27 18:04, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote: >>>> On Fri, 27 Dec 2024 14:57:55 +0100, Carlos E.R. wrote: >>>> >>>>> Well, I appreciate that I can get gratis a piece of software that is >>>>> that good. >>>> >>>> If you think Free Software could be better, and you would rather not give >>>> money to a proprietary company, why not contribute some of that money to >>>> the development of the Free Software and help make it better? >>> >>> Especially since projects like KDE and LibreOffice really need it. >> >> Note that money is not the only way to contribute. Even by using the >> software you contribute, > > This is something I wonder a lot about actually. On Windows free > software developers can see download stats from their website. > Linux software is usually installed from distro packages though, so > the author only sees a single download from the package's > maintainer. Sometimes you see a project on Sourceforge that's had a > relatively recent update but the monthly download stats for the > main release file are near single digits. I feel like downloading > it more times myself just to make the author think they didn't do > all that work (of documenting and publishing the software, even if > they're developing it mainly for their own use) for next to nobody. I evangelize, teach linux and open source, in the hope of bringing in a new generation into the fold. From time to time, I might write and email to authors, thanking them, or I contribute bug reports. I've helped (behind the scenes, he doesn't know it) the author of curl to get some good paid presentation gigs. But yes, it is an interesting idea. Imagine a service that publishes usage statistics based on package tool downloads. >> by making others aware of it, you contribute. I actually like >> projects that are not super wealthy. The linux foundation and >> firefox are excellent examples of how power corrupts. Would never >> dream of contributing with money to those two. > > They're interesting cases. Google is determining the direction > that the Web evolves, thus the direction Firefox development has > to go, and they're the main ones paying Mozilla (for now). Hardware > manufacturers determine how computers evolve, and thus how Linux > is developed to work well on them, and maybe the Linux Foundation > gets some funding from the computer hardware companies (is this > info public?), or at least many code contributions from Intel and > the like. > > So that development is really about making existing open-source > projects fit the aspirations of businesses, and one can see then > how the culture of those open-source organisations might start to > reflect that more than their original goals. Still, it's much > better than having to buy software off those companies directly, or > using more closed-source drivers in Linux. This is true. An example of not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.