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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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How do you, or do you vet if a software will paywall features or "enshittify"? (lemmy.world)

submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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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.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I think it is not possible to avoid it in all cases, but the reputation and business practices of the controlling company are your best indicator. Any changes to a company's culture may give signs if a piece of software may start to employ anti-consumer tactics.

Naturally, being closed source and in a dominant market position (i.e. a monopoly or near-monopoly) would make it easy for a company to start pulling these kinds of tactics. Sometimes even formerly reputable companies with open source software can try to do things like this after buyouts, changes in management, pressure from capital investors to increase profits, etc.

Generally, open source programs will be harder to monetize than closed source programs, as someone can fork the code and take out the disliked features. See Ungoogled chromium vs Google Chrome, VSCodium vs VSCode, Rocky Linux vs RHEL, etc.