You’re paying for the convenience of having it compiled and uploaded to the store. Nobody keeps you from compiling it for yourself. Or from getting it for free through F-Droid which is even linked from their github repository.
Free as in freedom, not necessarily free as in beer
It’s free as in free speech, not free beer. Also it’s FLOSS, not FOSS
yeah I just thought it was kinda funny
There are valid reasons to use one instead of the other. In most cases there isn’t a difference to the end user.
Yes and clearly OP is making the case for the latter.
You can charge for FOSS software if you want.
And anyone can distribute it for free as long as use different name and logo.
The early days of the Internet, there was a cottage industry to burn Linux ISOs to CDs and selling them.
That’s how I got Slackware.
For me it was Debian and a penguin tie.
this is the ad-free version, which is available with the exact same (if I’m correct) features on F-Droid for free, along with the source code on GitHub.
the versions on the Play Store (paid version and free version with ads) likely just help pay the developer for their work
and as others have said already, free software is free as in freedom, not free beer.
It’s Fivedollar Open Source Software
Free software means that the software’s users have freedom. (The issue is not about price.)
Specifically, free software means users have the four essential freedoms: (0) to run the program, (1) to study and change the program in source code form, (2) to redistribute exact copies, and (3) to distribute modified versions.
Sure, but doesn’t the 0th freedom clash with pricing? It makes it so that certain people, through no fault of their own, can’t run the program
I suppose the license only counts after you aquired the program. Not before.
Note that it doesn’t say, “every living person.” It says, “the software’s users.”
The Free Software definition has never been about price, despite lots of free software also being free-as-in-beer. The confusing name is why phrases like “libre software” evolved.
To quote @dfyx@lemmy.helios42.de
You’re paying for the convenience of having it compiled and uploaded to the store. Nobody keeps you from compiling it for yourself. Or from getting it for free through F-Droid which is even linked from their github repository.
They can. They just have to compile it themselves (the code is available on GitHub) or find someone else to give them a compiled version (for example F-Droid which is linked from the readme on github).
Free software means that you are allowed to do a lot of stuff. It doesn’t mean you can expect to be handed everything on a silver platter. Correctly building and uploading mobile apps to an official app store is a lot of work (even more on iOS than on Android) and while I personally wouldn’t take money for it, I can completely understand when other developers do so to finance their work. Remember, open source developers also need to pay for food and housing.
it’s free on f-droid, you can buy it on play to support the developer
