Software Needs to Be More Expensive
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blog.glyph.im
Companies exploit open source no differently than the way they exploit math, science, and engineering research they didn’t pay for.
You know who else does this? Individuals, governments, academic institutions, non-profits, etc. It’s the entire damn point.
If you don’t want to use open source, don’t. But fuck off if you’re trying to ban people from using it without “paying their fair share”.
There is nothing in the article that supports you making this statement. It's not clear to be that you understood the arguments the author was making.
The core of the argument is this:
> But, in light of the recent xz Utils / SSH backdoor scandal, it is clear that while the bargain may not be entirely one-sided, it is not symmetrical, and significant bad consequences may result, both for the maintainers themselves and for society.
Specifically the potential impact to society via scenarios similar to the above.
The link from the article covers it well:
https://boehs.org/node/everything-i-know-about-the-xz-backdo...
As to not paying a fair share: I, for one, would be perfectly happy if the open source world retreated back into geekiness; needing to RTFM constitutes a proof-of-work, a non-monetary cost that I'd guess many potential exploiters would not be willing to pay.
For example that includes things like a photo of 100 smiling people on a Bahamas beach and that well stocked fridge (or awesome WFH setup). A closer comparison would be carbon neutral status to boast about. Or companies that have one, two or three paid local volunteering days.
Make it one of those cheap things companies do to boast to perspective employees (and maybe customers if the customers are techies).