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479 sats \ 6 replies \ @siggy47 5 Dec 2023 \ on: What else is trending towards becoming "free"? meta
Along the lines of your example- software. FOSS really is spreading. Linux server software has almost completely replaced Microsoft. Inroads are slowly being made on the personal computing side. People distrust closed systems more than ever, whether or not they have the technical capability to examine the code. I'll be happy went the Apple beast is finally slayed.
I've been thinking about this for a while. The lack of scarcity with software means that eventually it will all be freely available. That's the mainstream price theory prediction, where price = marginal cost. It's also the conclusion you'd reach by realizing that there are people who produce this stuff recreationally or for ideological reasons and want others to have free access.
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It's also the conclusion you'd reach by realizing that there are people who produce this stuff recreationally or for ideological reasons and want others to have free access.
That's a part of it, but the other part of it is that software itself is information. It's just a digital pattern, which can be copied. So there is no "rivalrousness" as the theorists of this type of thing, say. That's the main reason why the natural price of software is "kinda-sorta" zero.
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That was the first part of my comment, wasn't it? I used "scarcity" instead of "rivalrousness" because it's the more familiar term.
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it is absurd how expensive software can cost. No matter how much ROI it can produce, ABSURDITY.
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Cost to produce or cost to purchase?
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Purchase is what I was referring to. Im sure producing is expensive too, but i know that it's about to get a whole lot cheaper with the robots getting involved
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