Yeah, but there’s also the term “freeware”, which means closed source but free to use.

I’ll edit my comment for clarity, thanks for the heads up.

Projects leaching on the work of companies like that, “freeing the code”.

You mean it the other way, right? Because these companies you defend use the free labor of voluntary developers from the community, which spend hours and hours developing features, fixing bugs and what not, directly or indirectly. That’s how open source works.

When these companies change the project license to a closed source one, they’re basically saying a big “f*** you” to the community. Forking the latest open source version of the repository is nothing more than an effort to keep things the way they were.

huge companies will not pay a cent for Linux in the future

Linux is FOSS, you can do whatever you want with it as long as you redistribute it without modifying the license. Android does that; every GNU/Linux distribution does that. That’s how it works.

if a license says “you can use it for free, but need to share profits over x$”

What you’re describing is “freeware”, what this post is discussing is " open source software". There’s a giant gap between the two.

Shit Smoke, did the C.R.A.S.H. make you sell us out?

Well, as a Linux user myself, I used to do this kind of thing when I was getting started and was too damn hyped about FOSS and everything. Now, I simply ask people what they want from a computer and how much are they invested into tech.

Do you want things to be as simple as possible? Use Mac or Windows.

Do you want to learn more about how things work under the hood? Use Linux.

Gaming? Use Windows (and yes, although I’m a proud Proton user, some games just won’t work, like Valorant and PUBG).

Snapper also uses btrfs subvolumes to create snapshots, so if you did create them during your installation process, nothing to worry about.

I don’t remember if there is a way to create them after the installation, neither if it’s a tough process tho. I used to simply reinstall when I messed up with the subvolumes.

They probably don’t, but they have families to feed, so it’s better to follow the guidelines and lie to a bunch of anonymous people on the internet rather than have your wife and kids beating you up after losing your job due to “not being evil enough”

None of these corporations can be trusted at all IMO, simply because they’re corporations in the first place, and WILL always choose what’s better for them rather than what’s better for the community. That’s why I advocate for open source every time I can.

And OK, everything you said is true and valid, but go ahead and try to convice the non-tech people to delete their accounts, while explaining all the little comforts they have will be taken away with it. They’ll simply laugh at you and carry on. That’s how Google and other corporations that follow this “free services” model got so big and influential, and now they’re using their size to do what corporations do: increase profits.

Another problem with this model is you can’t really tell what Google is doing with the data they collect. Can you/anybody tell Google didn’t feed their Bard AI data they collected from you? Can you/anybody tell Google ain’t using your/their data for anything except showing targeted ads? AFAIK, you can’t. Even if they update their ToS regularly, communicate you they’ve changed it and “if you continue using the service it means you agreed with the new Terms of Service”, do you really think people will actually take the time to read the same 20 page ToS every time it changes? Most people I know don’t even read it the first time!

In the end, you may say they’re being as ethical as possible, and the users are simply too lazy and everything bad that happens to them is entirely their own fault. You wouldn’t be wrong at all, but that’s not how the world works.

Also, sorry for the wall of text.