Tell HN: OSS spirit - you should only give if you feel compelled to make a gift

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34272144
by greatgib • 4 years ago
2 1 4 years ago

I was reading the following post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33904251 (About how and why the ending poem of Minecraft was freed)

And it is not possible to comment anymore.

And I saw the following paragraph inside that I think is philosophically incredible:

<< But you should only give if you feel compelled to make a gift. Not out of guilt, but because it would make you happier to do so than not (because my work has moved you, or because you think it is important); and only if you have the spare resources to do so. I will never think less of anyone for reading my work without paying. (Unless they are billionaires, in which case I might think a teeny-tiny bit less of them). A lot of us are broke, or need the money for something more urgent, and I totally get it. Your thoughtful attention is the gift I will always value most. >>

I think that it is really interesting to describe the inner spirit of Open Source / Free (Software) and why being a contributor.

I say this in opposition to the current trend of "this is free, but please donate or otherwise you are assholes and I will withdraw from open source" or "I made this software OSS but big companies are not paying, and so OSS doesn't work as I was expecting to make money, so here is now my custom license that I will say is OSS despite it not being so"

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