The Patreon page says they receive $177 per month. That's too low for a project with such a high popularity and usage.
I read somewhere ( and I bet ) it's used by Google / Facebook / Apple employees.
I read somewhere ( and I bet ) it's used by Google / Facebook / Apple employees.
:-P
...and you'd be wrong. It is very common for Apple to test its new browser versions on the public internet and for those version numbers to show up in the logs of popular Apple web sites. It's one of the ways that Think Secret could confirm that a new version was on the way.
Anyways there is surely something strange brewing for the next macOS, as Apple has repeatedly noted that "macOS High Sierra will be the last macOS release to support 32-bit apps without compromise", without specifying what kind of "compromise" might come up (see https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=06282017a )
Homebrew security is good enough for you and me but not good enough if you're working on Apple software.
Why not?
I'm sure Homebrew has a significantly higher value, but you've got to weigh the tradeoffs. If Homebrew cost $9.99 a year for access to updates I would pay it, but I know a lot of people would complain.
I'm really surprised that instead of "lots" I have to write "some".
I also think that it's a much bigger win, financially and for P.R., to donate some of the profits, instead of paying the taxes in selected tax-paradise countries.
FOSS is seen by upper management as a way to avoid paying for software, instead of pirating it, and contributing code back is frowned upon.
One place I worked, it was easier to order a new work van for the department than a $30 program because the program could only be downloaded, and not bought in a box.
So they try to keep people from buying from non-approved (i.e. no kickback agreement) vendors as much as possible, no matter if the company loses on the long term (worker happiness, productivity). Also, keeping records, both financial and stuff like license expiration is easier with one to a dozen suppliers than hundreds. The major enterprise vendors (eg MS, Adobe and Acronis) actually have dedicated enterprise license management solutions, which a tiny shop usually does not.
While we implicitly give away the software for no cost, we don't really try to brand it as such (though for some, lack of cost is certainly a big plus).
It's a shame "open source" got co-opted by the OSI and the Free Software purists are left to continue to use "free". I doubt something like "libre" would catch on; some people use it, but it doesn't seem to be used widely enough.
I face this with my government clients. They spend very little time thinking of the actual amount (even if it's $30k), and more time about "how are we going to purchase this??"
Tip Jars aren't an effective way to get money for this stuff, at least if you want money from companies. It's good for "aw this library helped me, let me throw in $5" from individuals.
Give a company a proper bill with VAT, and they'll stuff you with money.
Anyway, that number would probably be higher if it were advertised more.
but this made me wonder: would there be fake Patreons accounts? How much verification is done?
In fairness, it's used by virtually everyone who has to do anything of significance in software development on a Mac.
It's $312 a month now, but that's still super now. We should at least get them to where they can afford a few beers with the monthly groceries.