The Trap of Permanent Mediocrity

There is a cultural phenomenon of Permanent Mediocrity Fallacy, driven by short term human thinking - which is responsible for much of open source software remaining mediocre for a long time or dying, and not dominating the space as has been demonstrated by products such as Linux, Wordpress, Blender, and others - which have become the respected industry standards with the highest market share in their respective areas.

In the Fallacy, a user has a choice between an open source or a free, proprietary product. This is not considering a paid proprietary product, which already has a gate to it in terms of price.

A person will normally choose the 'better' product for their immediate need. In a lot of cases in 2022 - that better software product is proprietary or free and proprietary.

This is natural, but it has a long-term negative effect. The free product is neglected, never improves. The downside is expensive proprietary sofware that everyone in the future must rely on.

Do you want your choice to remain a choice for free proprietary or paid proprietary - in the year 2122? I'd rather it be open source, which has proven to be better in key applications for the internet.

So: either use and support open source, and the price goes down for everyone in the future - or the alternative is an apocalyptic hellscape. There are many examples where freeware disappears, or starts charging.

The challenge for you is: think bigger. Think longer term. Upgrade your vision for what you envision society looking like in the future.

To go further - commission the development of open source software so that the realm of open source software swells. See article [1]

Or more radically - you can 'distribute free (libre) software for a fee' [2]. We suggest you find ways to monetize your specific way of distributing free software or design, like OSE does - by providing meaningful products or services. This is where we can begin an earnest quest for solving all Pressing World Issues.