> I would also add that it indirectly kills the vast majority of programming jobs - nobody is ever going to get paid to create a JPEG decoder as everyone can just use libjpeg
Looked at another way, open source means that instead of a bunch of programmers getting paid to write multiple implementations of the same thing over and over, so the programmers that otherwise would be doing that can instead work on new innovative things.
In an ideal world, all software would be open source, and programmers would spend all their time improving said software for everyone. The problem is I don't know how those programmers would be compensated for their work. In many ways, open source software is a public good, since anyone can benefit from it[1], so an argument could be made that OSS should be publicly funded (i.e. paid for by government grants). However, I am doubtful that the government could do a good job of allocating resources to open source projects. Then again, I don't think the private sector is doing a great job of that either. Just look at how many resources are put into showing people ads.
[1]: And it has the interesting property, that unlike most public goods, the cost does not scale with the number of people who use it, or have a limit on the number of people who use it.
Isn't the solution to have much shorter copyright terms? Software could be closed source at first, its implementation costs recouped, then opened by default when its copyright term lapses. New releases could still be closed, so income could continue. Set the term at 5-10 years, rather than >70.
This doesn't really work for projects that want to be closed source, as they can just not publish the source. After the 10 years, people can copy the binary, but that doesn't really give you a whole lot of benefit.
And if a project does want to be open source eventually, they can already license their code that way.
Couple it with a generalized right to repair: source code is what's needed in order to be able to repair the software that you use. If beyond the support period or the copyright term (whichever is least), the materials needed to repair the product must be released.
OSS isn't anti-alternative at all? Just because you don't pay for the software doesn't mean there's no competition.
Even well-established software can have meaningful alternatives. Look at ripgrep. While it hasn't replaced grep as a distro default, it's still being used by folks that find it a better solution for them.
Don't you remember how hostile people were to ripgrep just because ag or find + xargs + grep existed? Or the same with meson because cmake exists and cmake because autotools exists? Or systemd or clang? It takes an unusualy stubborn person or strong corporate backing to actually create an alternative to an established open source project.
Looked at another way, open source means that instead of a bunch of programmers getting paid to write multiple implementations of the same thing over and over, so the programmers that otherwise would be doing that can instead work on new innovative things.
In an ideal world, all software would be open source, and programmers would spend all their time improving said software for everyone. The problem is I don't know how those programmers would be compensated for their work. In many ways, open source software is a public good, since anyone can benefit from it[1], so an argument could be made that OSS should be publicly funded (i.e. paid for by government grants). However, I am doubtful that the government could do a good job of allocating resources to open source projects. Then again, I don't think the private sector is doing a great job of that either. Just look at how many resources are put into showing people ads.
[1]: And it has the interesting property, that unlike most public goods, the cost does not scale with the number of people who use it, or have a limit on the number of people who use it.