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Comment by pcurve | Hacker News Reader

The shot generator feature looks unbelievable.

Scroll down and check out this text. Would love to get inside scoop on this.

"Storyboard Pro - Shitty software that costs $1000? Boords and other online software that just allows you to order images and costs a monthly fee?

Fuck those guys.

And fuck Sony Pictures. They make the worst fucking movies. What does that have to do with free software? Not much. Maybe use free software to make great movies and don't waste money going to a Sony movie? Fuck.

And fuck Dave Morin. And Gary Vaynerchuk. Ugh."

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That blurb is so bizarre. I wonder why they felt the need to include it. Still going to try this out for new projects though.

I just wrote that because it's how I feel, and it's free software. I answer to no god but myself.

But again, to be clear, it's not free software according to the commonly accepted definition of free software.

https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html

well, to be clear, the dictionary says free means "without charge". You can use this software "without charge"

Great. Sounds like freeware to me. Not free software.

"commonly accepted definition of free software" is pretty clear

"Free software" and "open source" have very clear meanings in software industry. Nobody can force you to use them correctly but don't get angry or even act surprised when people complain that you are wrong and even deceitful (when the error doesn't seem naive).

If you go to a flight engineer and say that a plane has a high risk of stalling, first thing the engineer thinks would be a problem in the aerodynamics, not some engine problem, which would not make sense according to the dictionary definition: Stalling: Stop running, typically because of an overload on the engine. (Random example from the top of my head and my example can theoretically be very wrong, but I hope my point is clear).

I agree with you on "open source", that term was basically introduced by the OSI and people still stick to the OSI definition, but I cannot agree with you on the term "free", that word has a very long history of meaning gratis long before the FSF.

I personally understand different things when I hear that an application is "free" vs that it is "free software" [1].

It also helps to look at the more correct terms to use when talking about a different kind of "free" [2].

It doesn't actually matter, but even if we dig the actual root of the word, and its usage, we see that the "libre" meaning precedes the "kostenlos" (without monetary cost). It meant "noble, free person" in the proto-Germanic [3]. If you say that someone is a free person, no sane person would think that he/she can be owned for free. So the phrase "free software" is a very unsuitable substitute for "free to redistribute" or "free to use", even when you ignore the industry jargon. License to use it is free, not the software.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software , https://fsfe.org/freesoftware/basics/summary.en.html , https://www.fsf.org/about/what-is-free-software , https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software_(disambiguation)

[3]: https://www.etymonline.com/word/free

Free as in free beer.

No Michael Bay?

I like how you include that. It makes the page different than the usual sanitized PR/marketing speak that is common. However, I don't know much about Morin and Vaynerchuk. What's are some of the annoying things about them?

I was caught off guard, but it was pretty hilarious.

I just realized you have a very old hackernews account. You must've been one of the first people to register.

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