this post was submitted on 07 Dec 2023
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Free and Open Source Software

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[email protected] - Oh my gosh I just figured it out.

Okay, all you open source evangelist people: your knee-jerk reaction to come at people who are talking about a problem with whatever commercial software they use and suggest Your Favorite Alternatives™ is exactly like saying "why don't you just buy a house?" to someone complaining about their landlord.

[email protected] - Actually, to borrow from @DoubleA, it's worse than that.

It's like talking to someone who is in a crappy apartment as though they have the agency and skills to stake out a plot of land and build their own home.

You have to be at peace with the fact that some people just want to exist and not worry about so many things. And they still have a right to complain about their situation.

Link to thread: https://mas.to/@TechConnectify/111539959265152243

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Well, it's mastodon. You've got a little over 400 characters to say what you're going to say in the most shocking, attention-getting way possible. Yes, it's not a perfect analogy, but no metaphor is perfect or else it wouldn't really be a metaphor, would it?

Anyway, it's a time and convenience cost that becomes extremely significant as your IT proficiency decreases, and you've got another think coming if you think those costs don't matter to people.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago (2 children)

It's not an "imperfect" metaphor, just a bad one.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

Okay, I guess. This isn't really a hill I'm prepared to die on. The point is that it's still a cost that's real to the user, even if it's not a direct financial one.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

"Help, I can't afford rent!" -> "Buy a house, stupid."

"Help, this software is buggy and unintuitive!" -> "Try using buggier and more unintuitive software, stupid."

Seems like a solid metaphor to me.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Kind of off topic, but you can change how many characters your mastodon instance allows. Mine allows 1337 (for some reason) and I know many have it unlimited. I don't know about TC's instance.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Probably because it's leet.

Good to know, thanks!