So I just read Bill Gates' 1976 Open Letter To Hobbyists, in which he whines about not making more money from his software. You know, instead of being proud of making software that people wanted to use. And then the bastard went on and made proprietary licences for software the industry standard, holding back innovation and freedom for decades. What a douche canoe.

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[–] kindred@lemmy.dbzer0.com 64 points 1 day ago (2 children)

There is a viable alternative to the problems raised by Bill Gates in his irate letter to computer hobbyists concerning "ripping off" software. When software is free, or so inexpensive that it's easier to pay for it than to duplicate it, then it won't be "stolen".

—Jim Warren, July 1976

[–] Tenderizer78@lemmy.ml 19 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sometimes it's about the effort of paying than the actual cost.

Of course, with Microsoft it's both.

[–] deadcade@lemmy.deadca.de 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Or the service. Software that goes out of its way to ensure you paid, and poses limitations on the paying customer. Like always-online DRM for video games.

[–] Tenderizer78@lemmy.ml 3 points 22 hours ago

That's kinda what I meant by "Microsoft is both". I branded those as under the "effort of paying" (though I probably shouldn't have).

[–] Maerman@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago

Very well put. I cannot stand the entitlement in the original letter.