On 9/13/2022 11:44 AM, to...@tuxteam.de wrote: > On Tue, Sep 13, 2022 at 11:27:43AM -0400, Chuck Zmudzinski wrote: > > On 9/13/2022 12:36 AM, to...@tuxteam.de wrote: > > > On Mon, Sep 12, 2022 at 03:32:27PM -0400, Michael Stone wrote: > > > > > > > [...] "I can't get personalized/dedicated support with enforceable > > > > SLAs for free" > > > > If the requirement that maintainers and developers of free/oss software > > must actually > > fix the bugs reported to them is not enforced, then free/oss software *is* > > vulnerable to > > all kinds of malicious activity by the "volunteers" who create the free/oss > > software. > > > > > > > > Had I a printer, I'd print out this, frame it and hang it on the > > > wall. This makes the point very nicely :-) > > > > > > Cheers > > > > Yes, it is true, no one should use Debian or any software maintained by > > totally > > unaccountable "volunteers" for any mission-critical purpose without also > > hiring > > someone with the time and expertise to do what is necessary to make such > > software > > secure and bug-free for the intended purpose of the software. That is, users > > must *not trust* the volunteers who maintain and develop Debian software to > > act in > > the interest of the user [...] > > But how is that different from commercial software?
Not that much different. I like the fact that we have free/oss software now so we can see which "volunteers" who sometimes work for big corporations choose to ignore bugs reported to them. I won't trust those "volunteers" nor will I trust the companies they work for, nor will I trust the software and hardware those companies release into the marketplace. I also think it is better for free/oss projects to enforce some minimum level of effort on the "volunteers" who maintain and develop the software to reduce the chances that the "volunteers" can get away with abusing their position as "volunteers" who have the power to upload official software to the free/oss projects' download servers. > The commercial entity > is bound to the shareholders and to the paying customers -- based on how > much they pay for. If you, as a customer, are shelling out a significant > amount of money, you can as well pay a dedicated person to keep your > free software in shape. Probably the price-performance ratio will be > better. I agree with that. But the price-performance ratio could be even better if the "volunteers" in free/oss software projects were not free to ignore bugs reported to them. Cheers
