this post was submitted on 04 Mar 2025
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I've seen many threads suggesting products but they often don't mention FOSS projects, which should always be preferred to corporate software. With FOSS you are already boycotting capitalism, on either side. Free and Open Source ignores borders and shouldn't be categorized in nationalist terms, no matter where some of the maintainers happen to live.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago

I think there is a different problem. Many of the best FOSS products are unknown to the general public ;/

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

@not_IO
I agree on that.

[–] [email protected] 89 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

FOSS is not American. Foss belongs to literally everyone.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago

Lol, first time I hear that, as European😆 what a stupid movement..

[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 weeks ago

I always like to say the fruits of FOSS labour are the common heritage of mankind. It belongs to all of us as a public good, created and maintained by selfless workers. (Nevermind the fact that most FOSS projects are based out of Europe anyways).

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

FOSS is definitely not boycotting capitalism, but its still an objectively good thing. I see FOSS work as a way for relatively rich imperial core citizens to give back to the world.

Definitely do not boycott FOSS projects.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I don't understand why you say FOSS isn't boycotting capitalism. I don't disagree, but I also don't know enough to agree yet.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Look at the success of Linux. It's not in opposition to capitalism, it's ba kernel widely used by capitalists. If Linux was truly a threat to capitalism, google wouldn't use it in their phones.

I still think that Linux and open source are great. They're just not neccesarily anticapitalist. They definitely can be in certain circumstances, and definitely make some rent seeking impossible

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

To be fair, what Google is doing is a perversion of the original intent of Linux. It used to be a direct competitor to commercial OSs. Google turned it into one.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

There are some pretty corporate "open core" software companies tho, that's a more grey area

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Are they open or free? That's the point here.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

It's hard to say. "Open core" means that most of the software is open source (licenses vary) but some features are locked behind a paywall. Gitlab takes this approach for example, also maybe onlyoffice.

[–] [email protected] 86 points 2 weeks ago

Free software is the antithesis of capitalism. It doesn't make sense to boycott them.

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