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    Free is never free

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    • coliverC
      coliver @Deleted74295
      last edited by

      @breffni-potter said in Free is never free:

      Oh for heavens sake guys.

      This has nothing to do with whether open source is a bad thing. Re-read the article before you lampoon it.

      They did and brought up valid critique... not sure why you think they are "lampoon"-ing it.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • Deleted74295D
        Deleted74295 Banned
        last edited by

        "Paid software is awful because reasons"

        Really tired of the herd like mentality.

        scottalanmillerS coliverC DashrenderD 5 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • scottalanmillerS
          scottalanmiller @Deleted74295
          last edited by

          @breffni-potter said in Free is never free:

          Oh for heavens sake guys.

          This has nothing to do with whether open source is a bad thing. Re-read the article before you lampoon it.

          What was the point? It was presented that free was not free, but was likely costly and carried risks. But only risks that also applied to closed source or non-free software was presented. What did we miss?

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • scottalanmillerS
            scottalanmiller @Deleted74295
            last edited by

            @breffni-potter said in Free is never free:

            "Paid software is awful because reasons"

            Really tired of the herd like mentality.

            But the herd mentality is what we were fighting. We provided logic and proof to an article that was misleading and clearly trying to herd people into fearing low cost simply because "free is never free" which is clearly false. It's too late to complain about people thinking for themselves, you attempted to herd, it didn't work. You think YOU are tired of this, we are tired of unfounded FUD being spread trying to push an agenda. We all felt it, hence the reaction. You didn't provide valid points, your post was misleading and incorrect.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • coliverC
              coliver @Deleted74295
              last edited by

              @breffni-potter said in Free is never free:

              "Paid software is awful because reasons"

              Really tired of the herd like mentality.

              They brought up valid critique to an article you wrote based on knowledge and information from the industry... and they are following the herd mentality?

              scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
              • scottalanmillerS
                scottalanmiller @Deleted74295
                last edited by

                @breffni-potter said in Free is never free:

                Sometimes you do get a generous gift, sometimes you really do get a good deal but most of the time, its a trap for later down the line.

                So, how are we to have taken this line, for example? I specifically asked you to provide examples of your post being true.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • scottalanmillerS
                  scottalanmiller @coliver
                  last edited by

                  @coliver said in Free is never free:

                  @breffni-potter said in Free is never free:

                  "Paid software is awful because reasons"

                  Really tired of the herd like mentality.

                  They brought up valid critique to an article you wrote based on knowledge and information from the industry... and they are following the herd mentality?

                  And when they specifically question the industry standard herd mentality?

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • DashrenderD
                    Dashrender @Deleted74295
                    last edited by

                    @breffni-potter said in Free is never free:

                    "Paid software is awful because reasons"

                    Really tired of the herd like mentality.

                    I definitely never said that, pretty sure Scott didn't either. My postings were specifically targeting the fact that paid software has every pitfall you mentioned, Plus all of the other problems paid software has.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • coliverC
                      coliver @Deleted74295
                      last edited by

                      @breffni-potter said in Free is never free:

                      "Paid software is awful because reasons"

                      No one said it was awful. There are many cases where paid software makes sense. But the fact that you paid for it often isn't a factor in if it makes sense or not, which is what you're arguing. "Because I paid for this piece of software it was the correct software for my company." Which is the wrong way to think about it.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                      • scottalanmillerS
                        scottalanmiller @Deleted74295
                        last edited by

                        @breffni-potter said in Free is never free:

                        "Paid software is awful because reasons"

                        I think you only sense that this was said because you were trying to promote that "unpaid software is awful because reasons" and so you feel that pointing out the flaws in that statement led to the opposite statement. But that's not what happened. No one said paid software was bad, only that it carried all of the risks that you listed and a few more. It seems unlikely that you got the impression that anyone was saying that unless you were saying the opposite - had you only been trying to point out that open source still carries some risks then I think you would have seen the truth in the reactions that yes, it does, but closed source non-free software carries the same risks and more.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                        • scottalanmillerS
                          scottalanmiller
                          last edited by

                          I think everyone agrees that free software, or open source (your post seems to mix the two making it difficult to discuss as they are different things at different times) has risks, but this is a common thing that people trying to push an agenda say all the time, that things really aren't free and introduce costs and risks that exists not just in closed source but moreso in closed source as if they are unique to software being free. Then ignore that in comparison to other things, the cost might be not only low, but negative.

                          In this way, even doing "nothing" is not free, because it will cost you something. It's great that people want to always figure out the cost of action, but this only makes sense when we also include the cost of inaction. Assuming that we must do something, we have to determine a baseline against which to compare. Things that "cost" more than the baseline cost us money. Things below the baseline save us money.

                          Much of what we do in IT is designed to save companies money. So the concept of "Everything costs something" is misleading, as much of IT actually pays us to do it. This creates all kinds of conceptual problems when we approach things in this way. Because we start seeing costs where savings might exist. And that is hitting us here.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • bigbearB
                            bigbear
                            last edited by

                            If it doesn't cost you anything, often YOU are the product.... except with FOSS

                            With FOSS I dont think the same maxim holds true.

                            FreePBX, for example, is not like Facebook. FOSS means a group of developers contribute and benefit from a common set of code. Everyone wins, for the most part.

                            A free hosted service, like Facebook, isnt free. You are the product, your attention is sold to ad marketers.

                            scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • DashrenderD
                              Dashrender
                              last edited by

                              I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you probably meant something like this.

                              Software that doesn't have a sales force that's willing to educate the buyers for what seems like no cost typically aren't what users end up wanting. Users really want a solution where they over pay for a product because that overpaying includes things they may or may not need.

                              It was clear that you were going after the fact that free software often doesn't have someone standing by to hold you hand to install something/figure out problems you run into during/after purchase.

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                              • RojoLocoR
                                RojoLoco
                                last edited by

                                I have nothing helpful to add, but the title of this post makes me think of this:

                                Youtube Video

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                • scottalanmillerS
                                  scottalanmiller @bigbear
                                  last edited by

                                  @bigbear said in Free is never free:

                                  If it doesn't cost you anything, often YOU are the product.... except with FOSS

                                  With FOSS I dont think the same maxim holds true.

                                  FreePBX, for example, is not like Facebook. FOSS means a group of developers contribute and benefit from a common set of code. Everyone wins, for the most part.

                                  A free hosted service, like Facebook, isnt free. You are the product, your attention is sold to ad marketers.

                                  And think about people contributing to Facebook, they make posts for free. Or people posting on MangoLassi helping to fix someone's problem. It's really free.

                                  BRRABillB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • BRRABillB
                                    BRRABill @scottalanmiller
                                    last edited by

                                    @scottalanmiller said in Free is never free:

                                    @bigbear said in Free is never free:

                                    If it doesn't cost you anything, often YOU are the product.... except with FOSS

                                    With FOSS I dont think the same maxim holds true.

                                    FreePBX, for example, is not like Facebook. FOSS means a group of developers contribute and benefit from a common set of code. Everyone wins, for the most part.

                                    A free hosted service, like Facebook, isnt free. You are the product, your attention is sold to ad marketers.

                                    And think about people contributing to Facebook, they make posts for free. Or people posting on MangoLassi helping to fix someone's problem. It's really free.

                                    Well, it's free, but you have to look at ads. 🙂 So you are being paid to be an audience.

                                    RojoLocoR scottalanmillerS 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • RojoLocoR
                                      RojoLoco @BRRABill
                                      last edited by

                                      @brrabill said in Free is never free:

                                      @scottalanmiller said in Free is never free:

                                      @bigbear said in Free is never free:

                                      If it doesn't cost you anything, often YOU are the product.... except with FOSS

                                      With FOSS I dont think the same maxim holds true.

                                      FreePBX, for example, is not like Facebook. FOSS means a group of developers contribute and benefit from a common set of code. Everyone wins, for the most part.

                                      A free hosted service, like Facebook, isnt free. You are the product, your attention is sold to ad marketers.

                                      And think about people contributing to Facebook, they make posts for free. Or people posting on MangoLassi helping to fix someone's problem. It's really free.

                                      Well, it's free, but you have to look at ads. 🙂 So you are being paid to be an audience.

                                      You NEVER have to look at ads. You choose to look at ads if you actually see ads while browsing.

                                      BRRABillB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • BRRABillB
                                        BRRABill @RojoLoco
                                        last edited by

                                        @rojoloco said

                                        You NEVER have to look at ads. You choose to look at ads if you actually see ads while browsing.

                                        You don't see ads on Facebook? You are a magician.

                                        RojoLocoR 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • scottalanmillerS
                                          scottalanmiller @BRRABill
                                          last edited by

                                          @brrabill said in Free is never free:

                                          @scottalanmiller said in Free is never free:

                                          @bigbear said in Free is never free:

                                          If it doesn't cost you anything, often YOU are the product.... except with FOSS

                                          With FOSS I dont think the same maxim holds true.

                                          FreePBX, for example, is not like Facebook. FOSS means a group of developers contribute and benefit from a common set of code. Everyone wins, for the most part.

                                          A free hosted service, like Facebook, isnt free. You are the product, your attention is sold to ad marketers.

                                          And think about people contributing to Facebook, they make posts for free. Or people posting on MangoLassi helping to fix someone's problem. It's really free.

                                          Well, it's free, but you have to look at ads. 🙂 So you are being paid to be an audience.

                                          I didn't mention the site, but the CONTENT on the site.

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • RojoLocoR
                                            RojoLoco @BRRABill
                                            last edited by

                                            @brrabill said in Free is never free:

                                            @rojoloco said

                                            You NEVER have to look at ads. You choose to look at ads if you actually see ads while browsing.

                                            You don't see ads on Facebook? You are a magician.

                                            I don't really see much at all on FB, but I certainly don't see ads. uBlock Origin + the right filters = no ads anywhere, ever. I love watching Pandora try to play an ad and fail, then play another song.

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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