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Comment by duxup | Hacker News Reader

It's kinda sad what the browser extension ecosystem has become.

Seems like a neat hobbyist / handy tool space that quickly turned into a sorta predatory space.

It's not just browser extensions, but any popular software project that has no stable funding source. This extension has been maintained for years, and it requires a lot of effort to keep updated because it interacts with websites.

These developers are then offered funds for perhaps a new home, and they can hardly be faulted for taking the deal. This issue can only be solved by finding better ways to fund the development of popular software projects that serve the public good.

https://armin.dev/blog/2019/08/supporting-browser-extension-...

So true.

Rando popular freeware suddenly has an installer from hell and so on.

I actually prefer the funding model where occasionally these free software developers do receive a big payday without any shame or stigma and a fork of their project is almost instantly launched under different branding. So Avast gets a one time user network buyout but the functionality of the tool persists in availability. Better funding for the project while it remains free is never a bad thing though, if you get a lot of value out of some free software you use please never forget to tip or even patreon/other-subscription-payment-plan its continued development!

Would you still feel the same way if you were hacked because of such a sale?

Linux distros manage fine without such sales - and this kind of behaviour would get a maintainer kicked and probably marked for life. Too bad that Browsers have chosen a free for all store model instead a maintained distro model. Meanwhile Mozilla keeps locking down installing extensions outside their store for "security".

> would get a maintainer kicked and probably marked for life

For trying to cash out and retiring for maintenance they'd be excluded from ongoing development? This is precisely what I meant by not shaming people for selling off their product.

There are a lot of assholes out there that are far more worthy recipients of your ire - I'm sure this extension wasn't acquired for 1.2 billion.

For selling out users they'd be excluded from positions that require user trust, yes. I'm all for rewarding open source developers and maintainers but let's not destroy the software in the process.

And yes, there are always bigger assholes - that's never an excuse.

How would you reward open source maintainers? Donations can rarely sustain a project, so my own solution was to also start selling my work on app stores, but that may not work for everyone.

This is why I generally only use ones that are approved by mozilla that I have researched. Of course I currently have 5 extensions because I'm pretty cautious.

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