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  • Geodad@lemm.ee
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    1 month ago

    Discover FOSS software. Just be sure to toss some donations to your favorite projects.

    • Rin@lemm.ee
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      1 month ago

      Imma be straight up. Donations are cool but not a lot of people give donations. partly because some are skint (i used to be) but mainly because people just don’t know.

      i feel like the biggest issue that foss projects face is the fact that they don’t ask for donations in a way that the average user knows about. Kde sends a notification around christmas asking for donos. I haven’t seen any other foss app do anything similar.

        • Rin@lemm.ee
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          1 month ago

          I understand that but think about it. As a Linux user, i don’t go to dowload pages. I simply apt install or pacman -S or change my configuration.nix. I will never see that donate button unless I go to the project’s page.

          • Geodad@lemm.ee
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            1 month ago

            I go to my favorite software’s pages from time to time to see what they’re up to. Also, there are a few pieces that I have to visit the site for news when a non-free dependancy updates.

      • cageythree@lemmy.ml
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        1 month ago

        I give donations, but way less than I’d like (less in terms of quantity of recipients, not the total financial quantity).

        What I’d love (not only for FOSS, but also stuff like podcasts and other things I’m donating to regularly) would be a service where I can set a budget and select the software and tools I use and it splits it up automatically.

        I don’t mind donating, but I hate managing it, having dozens of small transactions for it, and I feel like I’m forgetting to donate to like 90+% of the stuff I’m using. Also, with payment provider’s fees it’s often not worth it to donate <1€ a month, so bundling transactions would be way more effective - for me as the user as well as the recipients who’d get one transaction once a month from said service rather than hundreds of small ones.

        I never really understood why e.g. Patreon doesn’t offer this. You can’t expect perks with this because the perks probably will start higher than what’s the breakdown of each recipient woild be at a reasonable budget, but the advantage would be that (mostly) everyone would get a piece of your cake, rather than like 5 of the 500 different creators/developers/… you’re using content/software of. Also, you could reduce or increase the monthly budget depending on your financial situation, rather than cancelling or modifying dozens of small subscriptions.

  • arotrios@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    If you’re into music production, FL Studio has a lifetime license that’s stood the test of time, and has kept up with or exceeded the capabilities of packages like Reason, Ableton, and Logic. It was the first to really embrace an open VST plugin interface, and has so many options that even after 25 years I haven’t yet explored them all. It also comes with a ton of free instruments you can download (basically free DLC).

    I picked up a lifetime license for $99 in 2001 when it was Fruity Loops 2.0. Used it for 10 years as it evolved and was amazed that it was keeping up with the big boys. That encouraged me to drop another $80 to upgrade to the producer edition to start making professional level tracks - and I was not disappointed.

    The best part? The base license is still just $99. Producer edition is still $179.

    EDIT: side note - the demo is actually the full software package, so you can try it out for free. The license just unlocks the capacity to save projects with the plugins that are covered by your licensing.

    • pyr0ball@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Bruh I’m still using my fls 11 license from the early '00’s and it still works. Modern hardware has made it work even better really

      • arotrios@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        FL 11 was an amazing piece of software - that’s the version that really kicked it into the big leagues.

        You should check out the newest version - the download manager is much better since FL Studio 20, and they’ve got a bunch of new packages and plugins. The Flex plugin is one of the best traditional instrument synths I’ve ever worked with (think it came in on v 17 or 18).

        Even the new version has excellent performance on my 10 year old desktop - you’ll love it when you get a chance to upgrade.

  • GVeltaine@lemmy.zip
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    1 month ago

    I use moneydance for finance, it’s $50 for the current version, as of now they give you one free version upgrade, with no requirement to upgrade again if you are satisfied.

    It has a learning curve and isn’t the prettiest but I’ve been satisfied with managing my transactions and running reports.

    What it lacks though is a decent budget extension.

  • melfie@lemmings.world
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    2 months ago

    I think paid open source like GPL Blender addons from BlenderMarket, Gumroad, etc. is a good option. You pay for it to support the devs while also owning what you bought.

  • Diurnambule@jlai.lu
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    2 months ago

    Shady practices.

    They make program/editor pay 99$ to be listed and the link all redirect to a subscribe page sling for an email.

  • endofline@lemmy.ca
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    1 month ago

    Software maintenance does cost a lot, it’s a full time job. Most people don’t pay foss or any at all ( winrar or total commander case ). Most people won’t be able to maintain or adjust foss on their own… Foss doesn’t work forever ( it’s a pain to deeply depend on foss which stops being maintained ). It’s a reality that 1 year fallback license is necessary evil

  • tias@discuss.tchncs.de
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    2 months ago

    The IntelliJ products are not exactly “buy once” - if you want updated versions you need to keep paying periodically.

    Not that I think that’s a bad thing necessarily - it doesn’t make sense to expect devs to continue working on something year after year when you’re not paying them for it.

    • Ulrich@feddit.org
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      2 months ago

      if you want updated versions you need to keep paying periodically.

      But you can continue using the older version, yes?

      • tias@discuss.tchncs.de
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        1 month ago

        Sure, as long as it works. Software has a tendency to stop working on newer OS:es or become subject to security exploits though.

    • nectar@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      They are “buy once” in that their licenses include perpetual fallback. Whenever you stop paying, you retain your licenses perpetually

      • kameecoding@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Not whenever, you need to be paying for a year and then then the latest version from a year ago is what you get the perpetual license for

    • pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip
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      2 months ago

      I’m happy to pay for software, but I want more than just permission, I want long term security that my investment in the tool will last.

      If IntelliJ would open source their oldest versions, I would make my boss buy me a copy of the newest version every year.

      • tias@discuss.tchncs.de
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        2 months ago

        That sounds good on paper, but the chances that someone else will pick up the ball if they abandon it, even if it’s open source, are very slim. If you care about keeping it alive then paying them is a more effective strategy than hoping for random volunteer work by internet strangers.

        You, on the other hand, have good chances of being able to learn new tools. So I think the need for this security is exaggerated.

        • pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip
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          2 months ago

          I’m a developer, so my chances are pretty good. But I take your point.

          Even if I weren’t, there’s enough software options out there that I don’t have to pick between paying for proprietary software and living with abandonware.

          So I think the need for this security is exaggerated.

          Of course. I used proprietary software for a long time. Having things I relied on get abandoned got old, but it worked.

          I just expect more from most of my software, now.

  • tabular@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    own forever

    Ownership implies control - being able to maintain/repair, modify or even resell.

    To be in control of software you need access to it’s source code, and have the right to share changes with others.

    • Ulrich@feddit.org
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      2 months ago

      “Ownership” can mean a lot of different things and the things you listed are most certainly not a requirement.

          • SeekPie@lemm.ee
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            1 month ago

            You were arguing that having control over something (as in “being able to maintain/repair, modify or even resell” it) isn’t a requirement for the thing’s ownership?

            Then what does “ownership” entail? Being allowed to use the thing but not modify or repair it? I’d argue that this isn’t what “ownership” means.

              • SeekPie@lemm.ee
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                1 month ago

                the things you listed are most certainly not a requirement.

                Then what are? Why wouldn’t the ability to maintain/repair, modify or resell be requirements for ownership?

                If “ownership” doesn’t have a unified meaning, then I can interpret “ownership” as the ability to maintain/repair, modify or resell the bought item.

                • Ulrich@feddit.org
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                  1 month ago

                  Then what are?

                  “Ownership” can mean a lot of different things

                  Why wouldn’t the ability to maintain/repair, modify or resell be requirements for ownership?

                  Why would they be?

                  If “ownership” doesn’t have a unified meaning, then I can interpret “ownership” as the ability to maintain/repair, modify or resell the bought item.

                  You can “interpret” whatever meaning you want, that doesn’t make it accurate.