Open source means surrendering your monopoly over commercial exploitation

Re:Open source means surrendering your monopoly over commerc... by danaris on Wednesday January 20, 2021 @09:36AM (#25846880)

I can't say for sure that this was the author's intention, but I suspect what they mean is that when you write code for profit, that's just helping you—anyone else who wants to use your code, whether as code or as a program, then needs to pay you for the privilege.

When you write OSS code, it increases what's available for everyone, without cost. It's no longer zero-sum; it's actively increasing what's accessible to all without having to give something else up in exchange.

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Re:Open source means surrendering your monopoly over commerc... by Ajedi32 on Wednesday January 20, 2021 @10:01AM (#25847169)

Writing code for profit isn't zero-sum. Even if someone is paying you for the privilege of using a piece software, they're doing so because they believe the value of what they're getting to be greater than what they're paying for it. Nearly all economic activity works that way; increasing the total wealth available to society.

Though yes, there's a pretty strong argument to be made that FOSS achieves that particular goal more effectively than paid software.

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