Playing the Open Source Game

> People used to say “when you don’t pay for a service, you’re the product”, but now you always are the product and sometimes you even have to pay for the privilege.

> As an engineer, I’m tired of working on systems that are openly hostile to the end user, where the best and most elegant solution is rejected in the pursuit of an extravagant business model.

This hits me hard. I feel this deeply almost every time I interact with a new startup product, etc. There is a great fight to be had here in having the most elegant (read: user-friendly) technical solutions ("software you can love").

At the same time, I can't help but feel a bit dismayed at the state of startups and the industry overall. I fear the future, where everything a new developer comes to learn is a VC-subsidized startup business model only to later push a "pay up or get out" statement.

Will the kids who are learning to write today using Apple Pencils on iPads, actually have the same opportunities to work with computers in the same way others here have? I deeply fear the rate at which software and technology is moving from a "solve real problems" model to a "solve the same problems, but with a subscription" model.

> We’re building software you can love, and big tech can’t compete with us.

I truly hope so - and that I can plan some role in turning this situation around.

> ...sometimes a reasonably priced, rock-solid, proprietary tool can be preferable to a janky OSS project connected to a murky business model.

I agree completely with this. Even worse, "free" (ad-supported) software is so darned convenient (and I'm so used to my software being non-paid) that I often end up using it even when there are better paid alternatives.