Re: Paying to improve free software one chooses not to use?

[Jean Louis]

* J.B. Nicholson <jbn@forestfield.org> [2021-03-28 03:24]:
> Jim wrote:
> > In fact this is a good example of how Free Software enables users, even if 
> > they
> > don't code themselves:  it's my understanding that Adam Good, who plays 
> > Turkish
> > music professionally (with NYC band Dolunay among others), raised money to 
> > hire
> > programmers to extend Lilypond to support Turkish. I'm an acquaintance of 
> > Adam's
> > and he typically uses proprietary software, so he's not using Lilypond (with
> > Frescobaldi) on ideological grounds.  Nevertheless he's seeing the benefit 
> > of the
> > GPL (as am I!).

> 
> This is highly unusual -- are you saying that Adam Good rejects using
> Lilypond, the free software program he raised money to improve? Perhaps you
> could expand on that or ask him to post here to help readers understand more
> of what's going on with that choice.
> 
> Relatedly, what are the "ideological grounds" to which you refer?

Blindly, without knowing the background, I can like a music but not be
a musician, and I could support creation of musician's devices, from
that viewpoint that is quite doable. Why not. It supports social
causes.

I have already donated for software that I do not use. But I have seen
that software is used by other people.

There are several kinds of help, there is help as for oneself, to
support those causes that directly return back something to
oneself. And there is help to support causes that return something
good to others, not necessarily oneself.

Altruism or selflessness is concern for welfare of others.


Jean