Re: Truth Social as an example of the limits of free software

[Abe Indoria]

   I'm going to ignore the points about Truth Social for a bit since I do
   not wish to get into a political spat (and have no love for different
   parties in general).

     I understand the limits of free software.  One problem I identify is
     that some people use free software not because they value freedom,
     but
     simply because it is economical to do so.

   Why is this a 'problem?'

      People who exploit the "cheapness" do nothing to promote free
     software and its
     philosophy; they do not say: "This product is possible thanks to the
     free software packages X, Y, Z and many more.  We are grateful to
     all
     the develpers who worked on them while making this available to the
     public on gracious terms."

   I'm sorry, but this is quite a weird take to me. I hope you're able to
   see it from my POV: Not everyone can afford expensive software. People
   aren't 'exploiting' free software (or -f-OSS in general) just because
   they use something that's free. Also I'm not sure if we should confuse
   free software with free *and* open source software.
   Anecdotally, when I buy 'expensive' software (Such as Apple <Insert
   software> or in a recent case for me, Scrivener, or what have you -
   sometimes you don't have that much of a choice), does that mean I
   automatically go "This great expensive product is possible thanks to x,
   y or z?" I don't. I don't even know who wrote that software. When I see
   and like a free software (or in most cases, a FOSS), I usually check
   out the dev's profile to see if they've written anything else, but
   that's pretty much it - aside from donations for software that I use on
   an everyday basis and so on. But as is, even if I (or other developers
   of such things) weren't getting donations, someone using your own
   software instead of the x alternative is quite gratifying. *If* I like
   a piece of software greatly, I would obviously praise whoever wrote it
   and recommend it to other like minded people, but that goes for both
   free and proprietary software. But that doesn't mean I am going to do
   that for every free software, nor does it mean I do it regularly -
   everyday people often have other priorities.