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A comment on Tell HN: A Conversation Needs to Be Had over Subscription Software. Parent comment

Re:Tell HN: A Conversation Needs to Be Had over Subscription... by southerntofu on Friday January 21, 2022 @05:48AM (#30021803)
But you're now getting the worst of both worlds. It was not uncommon back in the day you could buy a copy of the software which was bundled with the source code. Now you have to pay and you don't have the source code. You're just trapped into an ecosystem you have no control over.

I of course understand your point that software developers need to pay rent, but i'm interested in exploring other possibilities, such as non-profits gathering donations to pay for development/UX (like framasoft does).

Now, the same problem applies to all kinds of workers, from bakers to carpenters. If we take a look at the wider picture, why would anyone have to pay for rent and food? Wouldn't we all be better off if we did what we loved and shared unappreciated tasks more equally so that money doesn't get involved?

It seems like we have a "these people are not getting paid enough to pay for basic survival while doing their critical job" discussion every other week.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Tell HN: A Conversation Needs to Be Had over Subscription... by porcoda on Friday January 21, 2022 @05:56AM (#30021871)
Seriously? Since when could you buy COTS and expect to get the code too? I don’t remember a source archive accompanying the pre-subscription Adobe, Microsoft, or any other major piece of software that is now subscription-ware. That’s pure fantasy.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Tell HN: A Conversation Needs to Be Had over Subscription... by joshuaissac on Friday January 21, 2022 @06:17AM (#30022002)
> Since when could you buy COTS and expect to get the code too?

Since the 1950s and 1960s. IBM, for example, provided source code for their products until 1983.[1] The full Apple II source code was included in the Apple II Reference Manual;[2] similarly for the Atari 400/800 Technical Reference Notes.[3]

1. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hSBrPSYgjI4C&redir_esc=y (page 59)

2. https://archive.org/details/applerefjan78/page/n78/mode/2up

3. https://archive.org/details/CO16555AtariHomeComputerTechnica...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Tell HN: A Conversation Needs to Be Had over Subscription... by broeng on Friday January 21, 2022 @06:27AM (#30022077)
But back then, you were rarely paying for the software directly, you were paying for hardware.
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Re:Tell HN: A Conversation Needs to Be Had over Subscription... by ndiddy on Friday January 21, 2022 @08:52AM (#30023431)
If anyone is curious what happened in 1983, that’s the same year that Apple Computer Inc. v. Franklin Computer Corp. set the precedent that binary data is covered by copyright (before this case, only source code was covered).
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Tell HN: A Conversation Needs to Be Had over Subscription... by doctor_eval on Friday January 21, 2022 @02:53PM (#30029068)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Computer%2C_Inc._v._Fran....
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Re:Tell HN: A Conversation Needs to Be Had over Subscription... by ponow on Friday January 21, 2022 @06:34AM (#30022132)
I vaguely recall that you could get source code back in the 70s and early 80s, with early UNIX say or mainframe code, because the revenue was from the big machines. Technical reference manuals for the early IBM PC were awesome.
[ Parent | on HN ]