Many open source or free software projects restrict your freedom...
Examples are VirtualBox and Bizgres.
Bizgres is a Postgres database that works in clusters. One can only download the working Bizgres software by paying money to Greenplum. The molecules of the software (i.e. the source code) can be downloaded separately and it is in a non working state.. i.e. there are no working binaries included.
99.9 percent of the world could care less about the molecules that make Bizgres database clusters work... and 99.9 percent of the world wants the freedom to install a Bizgres database, not the free source code. i.e. not as many people actually care about source code as programmers think.
By restricting the working system, Bizgres has a freedom scam up its sleeve.. i.e. a business plan.
Greenplum has the nerve to call their database download 'trial software' even though it is open source.. What next, we'll see people start calling it 'shareware' and they'll reinvent the entire shareware industry?
Yes, all commercial open source software is just a shareware scam like the rest of the proprietary software.
VirtualBox is similar.. they offer a 'trial personal download' of VirtualBox.. but if you want to download the working system and you are a business, you have to download the molecules with no working system, or you have to pay VirtualBox big cash.
This is restricting all people's freedom. 99.9 percent of the world could care less about the molecules that are in a banana. Since 99.9 percent of the world wants to eat a banana without having to first become God to build the banana from the molecules, and since 99.9 percent of the world wants to be free to use and eat the banana... paying for the compiled banana is restricting our freedom. The compiled banana binary is censored from us.. unless we pay up.
This is binary censorship.
It's just a freedom scam.
I will however note that there are still smart folks out there who can download the molecules and compile their own copy... and it can still lead to less cost of ownership than proprietary scams like renting your copy of Microsoft Winblows or renting your copy of Linux CPanel software.. chaining yourself into monthly or yearly payments or such.
My point is not that free/gnu/open source software cannot bring down cost of ownership. It can in many cases. My point is that there is no such thing as free software. Once the working system is restricted or censored (no binaries are available for download or no working system is available, or no documentation on how the binary is installed is available) then the entire software is restricted.
What most of the open source community doesn't understand (since they aren't as smart as I am obviously) is that one freedom scam is the same as another freedom scam.. it's just a different type of freedom scam. Once you buy Microsoft Windows you have the freedom to click the start menu.. and once you buy Bizgres or VirtualBox you have the freedom to use the software within a few minutes and phone them up for support.. instead of say spending a few weeks to build it from its molecules with possibly no documentation or support on how to build it.
If someone doesn't help me build the banana from its molecular structure, then I might as well buy the banana from the store.. unless I'm really smart, which I am, so it brings the cost of software down. But not the freedom. This has nothing to do with freedom. Freedom would mean that binaries and working systems were not censored.. and they are.
Consider that I throw some molecules on the floor and say
"That's a bunch of banana molecules scattered on the floor in molecular form, you
just need to have 15 years of experience in chemistry to know how to put those
molecules together and make a banana.. but you can't call me and ask me any
questions about the molecules and how they fit together. By the time you figure it all out, you may starve to death but that is exactly what freedom is about.. since if you pay us you won't starve. Simple as that."
These molecules on the floor look like a bunch of sand.. and are not edible in current form. It may take 3 weeks or 3 decades of your life to put together a banana, and you may starve to death or go bankrupt since you cannot afford the compiled banana. So you say to me:
"That's restricting my freedom.. in a free world you would give me the banana in
edible form and you would provide me with molecular documentation, and you'd
provide me with details how you built the banana. You'd provide documentation and
recorded audio tapes of you talking about the banana and how it is composed..
because you can easily replicate and copy these audio tapes and you can easily
replicate the compiled banana with your molecular compiler that you have.
It is not that hard for you to precompile the banana for me. In a free uncensored
world, you would not censor the banana and hide it by throwing the molecules on the
floor!"
Which the business would then reply:
"Hello, contracts start at $469. We charge $5622 per day plus flight expenses for
on site visits."
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