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A comment on Why Johnny Won't Upgrade. Parent comment

Re:Why Johnny Won't Upgrade by nicbou on Thursday August 27, 2020 @08:02AM (#24292796)
Having committed to free software to solve a few problems, I'd say it's not all that rosy either.

I wouldn't say I have much more control over the open source software I use. I spent more time fighting desktop Linux than I did fighting Mac OS. I spent hours setting up self-hosted software that's more often than not just passable. Now I control the data, but I'm also responsible for it. I have to worry about updates, backups, migrations and so on.

If I measure how much effort I put into maintaining open source systems vs how many times I've been screwed by commercial software, I'd say both sides are worth considering.

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Re:Why Johnny Won't Upgrade by EvanAnderson on Thursday August 27, 2020 @08:31AM (#24292992)
You have ultimate control over free software, but the costs of maintenance become yours. Take some of the money you're saving from not purchasing proprietary software licenses and pay whoever you want to manage the complexity for you.

I will concede that in the context of personal-use software this is less applicable than, say, in a business context, but it's still applicable.

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