Comment by tombert
6 months ago
Of course they’re not “making” me do anything, but I think they have weaponized well-meaning people to do work for them for free and masking it under some vague notion of “charity”.
You’re obviously free to disagree, but it’s why I have become disillusioned with it. I think it’s an exploitative relationship.
I agree its often exploiting.
But presumably people who choose to participate in that relationship are getting something out of it, or they'd stop.
People might not be fully aware of harm.
Plenty of people stay in violent abusive relationships when they really should leave, presumably because they feel like they’re getting something out of the relationship. That doesn’t give a free pass to the abuser.
I am not saying that companies using open source software are anywhere near as bad as a physically violent husband, I’m just saying that just because the contributor to OSS feels like they’re getting something from the relationship doesn’t absolve the corporation of its sins.
The current FOSS ecosystem feels like the tech equivalent of the “working for exposure” scam.