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Proprietary software is also notoriously low-quality and can disappear at any time

This is just a false equivalency. Do both of those things happen in both cases? Sure. Does it happen WAY more often with FOSS? Also yes. Just go through F-Droid or Flathub and look at the long list of apps that haven’t been updated in years.

Paid software is typically not something someone does in their free time to fill a resume for a real job. It’s something they are able to dedicate real time to because it pays their bills and they have obligations to their paying users. They can also hire other people who also gets their bills paid and have similar obligations.

Neither one is inherently better.

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priapus@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
You can also go on the play store and find a huge list of proprietary apps that haven’t been updated.

You need some actual stats to back up this point. Plenty of proprietary software is unsuccessful because it fails to profit, so its shut down. At least FOSS software will continue as long as someone finds it useful enough to keep it going. Plus the obvious, that if you like a piece of software you can maintain it yourself.

Also saying that FOSS software is “notoriously low quality” is silly. There’s tons of great FOSS software and plenty of shit FOSS software, just like proprietary software.

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- Ulrich@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  
  You can also go on the play store and find a huge list of proprietary apps that haven’t been updated.
  
  I don’t need stats, I just actually use software.
  
  Also saying that FOSS software is “notoriously low quality” is silly.
  
  It’s not silly, it’s plain to see for anyone that has tried to use it. But it is hilarious to see you try to deny it.
  
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  - priapus@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    How is that false equivalency? Comparing fdroid to the play store is about as close as you can get.
    
    Like I said, there is bad FOSS software, but that doesnt make it generally false. People pay for software that doesnt have a good free alternative, they pay for support, and often they will pay to use software that has good marketing because they are simply unaware of the alternatives.
    
    I’m not saying all FOSS software is great, but lots of software does have great FOSS options, for example, Firefox, Blender, and Bevy.
    
    You’re not backing your points up with any actual reasoning or examples while also being condescending about it.
    
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    TiggerYumYum@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    I’m so sick of that person. All over the tech community with horrible and downright stupid takes. Just a while ago they were complaining about bloatware installed on android phones, but then fails to see your point about proprietary software also being useless.
    
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    Ulrich@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    
    How is that false equivalency? Comparing fdroid to the play store is about as close as you can get.
    
    The false equivalency is not that the two aren’t comparable products, the false equivalency is that they have those problems at similar rates, because they don’t.
    
    You’re not backing your points up with any actual reasoning or examples
    
    My reasoning is experience. FOSS has this reputation among most people. Only people who are willfully ignorant can’t see it. I could give you examples all day but it’d just be cherry-picking and I’m sure you would remain unswayed. Feel free to ignore me, I’m just saying what it is.
    
    I am genuinely curious why you think people pay money for worse software though…
    
    I don’t avoid proprietary solutions that do a better job
    
    That was my entire point. The person I was originally replying to seemed to suggest exactly that.
    
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  - Feyd@programming.dev ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Lol that’s not a false equivalency. You don’t get to just decide words mean things they don’t because it sounds nice in your head.
    
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airglow@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
When you look at any app store, you’ll find that the many apps that are infested with ads, spyware, malware, and dark patterns are pretty much always proprietary. Conversely, any FOSS app that tries to introduce such garbage would be forked to remove their offending attributes, which makes FOSS apps much higher-quality than proprietary apps in general.

You are using false equivalence by incorrectly implying that proprietary software is commercial while FOSS is not. Both FOSS and proprietary software can be sold and commercialized with various monetization strategies. For example, you are currently using Lemmy, a FOSS social network whose development is funded by donations. Nobody here believes that Reddit is better because it is proprietary adware.

Free and open source software licenses provide users the right to use, modify, and redistribute the software. Proprietary software does not. That difference makes FOSS inherently better for users than proprietary software.

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- Ulrich@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  
  When you look at any app store, you’ll find that the many apps that are infested with ads, spyware, malware, and dark patterns are pretty much always proprietary
  
  Right, because FOSS software never has any of that…
  
  which makes FOSS much higher-quality than proprietary software in general.
  
  That’s not how that works. There’s plenty of paid software that doesn’t have any of those things.
  
  Both FOSS and proprietary software can be sold and commercialized with various monetization strategies.
  
  You’re just arguing pointless semantics now.
  
  Nobody here believes that Reddit is better on the basis that it is proprietary adware instead of FOSS.
  
  You’re cherry-picking.
  
  That difference makes FOSS inherently better for users than proprietary software.
  
  No. It absolutely does not. Why do I care if you can “use, modify and redistribute” trash software?
  
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  - airglow@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    FOSS adware and spyware apps are rare because it’s trivial to fork it and remove the undesirable elements. Users have every incentive to use the ad-free and spyware-free forks, which eventually causes the superior user-friendly forks to overtake the originals. However, proprietary adware and spyware apps cannot be forked in the same way, preventing users from stripping out the ads and tracking. The ability to use, modify, and redistribute “trash software” allows anyone to transform FOSS with undesirable elements into excellent software by removing such elements, whereas proprietary “trash software” remains trashy.
    
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zarenki@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

Just go through F-Droid or Flathub and look at the long list of apps that haven’t been updated in years.

“not updated in years” didn’t used to be considered a bad thing. Why is it one now?

If something works well for me as it is and runs locally in a way that doesn’t open itself up to remote exploits, I don’t necessarily need it to keep changing all the time. Even if it would be nice if it had more features, the software works fine for me as it is. I don’t need those updates now or this year.

The only true “need” is that it doesn’t stop working for me when the various platforms or compilers change. I used to use a Python2 program, and I could keep using it for about a decade after its last update, but eventually I did need to move past it because Python3 had long since replaced it and distros stopped shipping Python2. A year or two of no updates it’s nothing.

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