this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2025
18 points (100.0% liked)

Linux

9619 readers
311 users here now

Welcome to c/linux!

Welcome to our thriving Linux community! Whether you're a seasoned Linux enthusiast or just starting your journey, we're excited to have you here. Explore, learn, and collaborate with like-minded individuals who share a passion for open-source software and the endless possibilities it offers. Together, let's dive into the world of Linux and embrace the power of freedom, customization, and innovation. Enjoy your stay and feel free to join the vibrant discussions that await you!

Rules:

  1. Stay on topic: Posts and discussions should be related to Linux, open source software, and related technologies.

  2. Be respectful: Treat fellow community members with respect and courtesy.

  3. Quality over quantity: Share informative and thought-provoking content.

  4. No spam or self-promotion: Avoid excessive self-promotion or spamming.

  5. No NSFW adult content

  6. Follow general lemmy guidelines.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
18
How do you, or do you vet if a software will paywall features or "enshittify"? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
5 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Obviously we all want to avoid enshittified (aggressively monetized) software or at least get our money's worth. I'm looking at self-hosting software right now and one I'm looking has a pricing page but only for cloud (no other paywalled features) and is open source. I tried looking up future plans and didn't find much, so it doesn't seem like it will enshittify. (not related) I had thought about switching to Omnivore for a long time but then they merged with ElevenLabs and the rest is history.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

Technically the only way you can vet, is by having root access to their servers and law officer level access to their documents.

Failing that, I can think of four baseline conditions to venture that a given product "shouldn't" enshittify, or that at least the utility of the project is recoverable (or forkable) if it does:

Req 0: Copiability. The software actually provides a full offline (or local) service. There's no way (that I know of!) to enshittify something that can live fully independently from its "mothership".

Req 1: "Letter and Spirit". License has to be Free Software (not just "Open Source") with all the liberties that come with it. (I assume in the future, an exception might be made to allow for New Ethical licenses that would be not FOSS as per the current definition)

Req 2: Reproducibility. Someone else has to have verified that using the source release builds the whole product (at most excepting "assets" like logos). This is usually verified empirically by someone getting to run and maintain a competing instance.

Req 3: No bite hand. The provider must have not used legal measures to exercise violence or restrictions against users of the product (be those consumers or devs). This includes eg.: using the DMCA to punish reviews, or punish implementation of req 2.

If a combination of provider and product completes those four requirements, I feel relatively well assured that the product can't reasonably enshittify, or at least that if it were to happen, there will be enough advance notice and devel momentum that the value of the product can be recovered from it.