Comment by fsflover
4 hours ago
> How many are modifying open source software?
This is irrelevant. Few people repair their cars themselves, but its possibility alone creates a free, competitive market, where consumer can choose a reasonable service. With proprietary software, you have an artificial monopoly: Only the original vendor can fix things, and they choose any price they wish. Or they choose to abandon the software complrtely, then you're out of luck.
So because of open source code there isn’t a duopoly when it comes to phones that anyone cares about, operating systems, etc?
Neither Microsoft or Apple are staying up late at night concerning themselves with Linux or is Apple and Google staying up late worried about Fdroid.
In fact, there are more Linux VMs running on Azure than Windows VMs. Every large tech company supports open source to a certain degree to “commoditize their complements” or to get a foot in where they aren’t competitive.
Is there a “reasonable service” that is open source for any of the major cloud providers? ChatGPT? The various AI assisted coding products? Hell even JetBrains products?
> So because of open source code there isn’t a duopoly
Neither iOS, nor Andoid are open-source. GNU/Linux phones provide the opportunity I'm talking about.
Most AI models aren't open-source but open-weight.
> Every large tech company supports open source to a certain degree to “commoditize their complements” or to get a foot in where they aren’t competitive.
And they keep as much closed as possible to achieve that. Imagine their software would be licensed as AGPL.
And no one to a first approximation cares as consumers and companies aren’t worried about strategies about how to compete with open source - they have all co opted them to increase their profits.
The whole argument is why should people care about open source and what can one do to make them want open source alternatives that are worse in every way that they care about? Make better products that have the features and ease of use that people come to expect in 2025.
No other profession expects people to desire to work for free and most open source software has most of its major contributors as corporate backed. The AGPL is the least “free” license compared to something like the BSD license they gives people the ability to do anything they want with the code.
I see people on HN constantly trying to excuse the shittiness of products like phones running FDroid and Framework laptops compared to the better alternatives