PureOS Optional Subscription Added to Advance Development

General Announcements
63

I didn’t ask you to predict the future. If the grand poobahs are going adopt general pay-more-get-more scheme, they would also know what it does to those that don’t subscribe and should say so. Maybe, they don’t care. I thought you, by virtue of your experience (1284 days) here might offer up a opinion. I’ll try to remember that you you don’t predict the future when I read more of your predictions. Predictions; semantics. Lets leave it there.

Good start by Puri. We know what we’ll get if we subscribe but won’t know what happens if we don’t. Like software, if we don’t subscribe it may stop working when Google changes how sites must work, someone moves the icons around in Windows and we need a upgrade…

:crazy_face: “optional subscription” I think that means that the choice of Levels are optional. Non-subscribing being optional in that one does not subscribe - it’s a decision not not to get any support at all.

@lakei has a good idea, but IMO picayune because lakei might be the only one with willing to pay to see something fixed - you know, bribe the developer :rofl:
Most hardware, and I can’t think of any, sell their product and charge for upgrades to the software - software is charged for upgrades. Some upgrades at massaged in to joining M$oft releases new OS or OS updates (fixes to patches that fixed things).

When you purchase a Librem 5, you can be confident that we will continue to provide security updates, privacy improvements, bug fixes, and new features… for the lifetime of your device, without compromising performance.

Well. They be smart. They didn’t mention any cost involved in the updates. My bad. It was implied though.

IMO, it’s not right. Puri image right now seems to be tanking. Adding that kind of weight adds ammo for opposition, and caution flag to potential buyers.

:unamused:

1 Like
64

“PureOS will continue to be freely available for all, there is no product difference for subscribers or non-subscribers.”

5 Likes
65

Subscribed and supporting FREE software. Feels right and true.

7 Likes
66

Awesome, Thank you. :pray:
1 9 8 3

2 Likes
67

I don’t know who you are nor your position with ‘The Company’ but I read

we will continue to provide security updates, privacy improvements, bug fixes, and new features… for the lifetime of your device, without compromising performance. Your Librem will stay secure and responsive for years to come.

Of course. It’s free until we pay for it. PureOS has to remain free. Updates, bug fixes and new features? What will they cost?

Why this? The only reason I can see any company would due such a thing is because they can’t get money any other way. Begs the question, again, what happen to the 1.4 million, the $500 w/ 11% APR maybe. Generally, anything under 21% is considered low.

I can’t afford to buy fixes, bug repairs, upgrades/updates and definitely cannot afford to fund someone else’s purchase of the L5. Maybe my morals and ethics are too high.

I’d be happy to help support Puri in a variety of ways. I already paid for the phone and would not expect to have to buy a fix or update, upgrade or patches.

Everything on the Internet is free, until we have to pay for it.
Such collection methods only further erode the tarnished image.

I’m scared because if it continues, it will most assuredly mean the demise of Puri. And we’ll all be in the same boat.
~s

1 Like
68

I’m wondering what makes Purism’s case potentially part of the problem. Is it because they labeled it a “subscription” instead of “membership” or “recurring donation”? Is it because Purism is not a non-profit but a social purpose corporation (Announcement post [2017]: https://puri.sm/posts/purism-now-a-social-purpose-corporation/)?

The FSF, LibreOffice, Blender, GIMP, Inkscape, Krita, and many others ask for some sort of donation. System76 accepts donations for Pop!_OS (Click the “Support Pop” button).

If Purism does impose enshittification of their products, they aren’t locked down so we can use other software instead of PureOS and also hire people to work on alternatives (like what some other forum members have looked into, and this too).

2 Likes
69

@WinstonSmith was referring to a quote from the blog post:

If for whatever reason you are still concerned about PureOS not being free in the future, you can utilize the Four Freedoms underpinning its software license for your own needs:

2 Likes
70

Well I think we can be confident that his real name is not Winston Smith. :joy:

2 Likes
71

Fortunately, there is no reason to fear.

This “subscription” program provides zero benefits to subscribers that are not available to non-subscribers. It is just a recurring donation initiative.

Purism has given every indication that they are committed to Free Software. If you have seen otherwise anywhere, please let me know, but I think you will find no examples of Purism saying anything but that they will only ever make Free Software.

I love this initiative, and I think it shows desire and commitment by Purism to restart their software development efforts. Rather than Purism giving up on software forever and focusing only on hardware sales, this initiative says to me that Purism wants to get started again on software development.

Purism is showing interest to do their part in furthering Free Software. If people have no spare money and are just trying to survive and pay their bills, they should take every advantage of Free Software without feeling guilt for not paying. It is available to them and they harm no one by using it freely. For the rest of us, the question now is, are we committed like Purism is to Free Software, or are we free-riders who just don’t care?

8 Likes
72

the one concern with the purism post is that it is not explicitly stating what the roadmap is for which the funds are supposed to be used, i think more folks may subscribe if they knew exactly what the return on investment will be and a rough timeline to see the value in subscribing - as in what is in it for me

6 Likes
73

My bad. I meant to make it clear that it is just my opinion, based on years of renting software and that renting, leasing, short-term purchases, memberships ad nauseam is one way to raise funds. And there are the honest ways.

So what if they have good, upstanding reputations, why not follow that too?
So to opine again, what Bubba does to sell ,swamp gas doesn’t make it OK. Just because it’s not against the law doesn’t make it right either.

Puri has been in business long enough and should know if they are making enough off the sales to cover cost of upgrading and updating service and made it known at the upstart.
Bug fixes should be primary - not $econdary.

Ignoring customers is sure a way to reduce sales. Ticket system, something that should be well established, along with left and right hands communicating together.

Meh - seems everyone is entitled to their own opinions and suggestions as long as they agree with a potential boost to the profit margin.

I’d love to see Puri succeed. If they succeed, I get a phone like the ones in the ads. And the L5 working with non-US carriers would be nice too. But to see Puri out-do the duopolies with respects to privacy would be worth while. It’s still unknown to me what happened to $1.4M. The $500. minimum similar to stock market investment with “11%” APR and now rent-a-app.

First and most important, IMO, is to fix the company image. It appears no money goes to do that. Cosmetic approaches by embellishing product descriptions is outdone by Reviews.

~~S

3 Likes
74

IMO:
I would like to see those that have authority to make statements on behalf of the company, to have a badge of some sort so we know it’s not just someone saying how things past, present, and future was, are and might be from point of view of the company.

Those 4 freedoms are too weak. Not everyone reading that is a kid with their first device. Are we free to go potty while using free software? There’s a lot of freedoms that can be attached to grease ‘freedom to’.
~s

3 Likes
75

The original blog post is issued on behalf of the company - and it says

PureOS will continue to be freely available for all, there is no product difference for subscribers or non-subscribers.

5 Likes
76

This thread was featured in the following video from Brodie Robertson: [YouTube] [Piped Video]

My recs to leadership for adjustments:

  1. Merge toward a single WooCommerce page to include a “pay what you want” text box
  2. Summarize the tiers into a single product offering
    • could allude to the Patreon, crowdfunding, etc, model: “pay $10+, get swag; pay $20+, get XYZ” and/or coupon voucher accrual over time
  3. Respond in some way to Brodie (could be as small as a video comment from the Purism YouTube channel, or a separate video entirely)
    • I believe that Purism engaging more often and more directly with the community in social media is broadly beneficial for their public relations

I would have to clarify with leadership, but I suspect that the “subscription vs donation” semantic is due to taxation implications. I personally see this as a stepping stone toward getting back to a new-and-improved “Fund Your App” campaign, to perhaps be elegantly integrated once the implementation details are fully fleshed out.

5 Likes
77

That’s right. Absolutely free as long as we pay for it.

1 Like
78

Not free as in beer, but free as in speech.

4 Likes
79

Just how can one marry up “free” software with free speech is a very long stretch. Just more Internet sugar coated double-talk.

2 Likes
80

This is the core of the free software movement:

9 Likes
81

:100:%

The GNU project/Free Software Foundation (FSF) coined the term “free software” and understand that free software cannot thrive without the sale of software or commercialization.

https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html

“Free software” means software that respects users’ freedom and community. Roughly, it means that the users have the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. Thus, “free software” is a matter of liberty, not price. […] We sometimes call it “libre software,” borrowing the French or Spanish word for “free” as in freedom, to show we do not mean the software is gratis.

The GNU project further clarifies what they mean in a later section (https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html#selling):

“Free software” does not mean “noncommercial.” On the contrary, a free program must be available for commercial use, commercial development, and commercial distribution. This policy is of fundamental importance—without this, free software could not achieve its aims.

[…]

Thus, to exclude commercial use, commercial development or commercial distribution would hobble the free software community and obstruct its path to success. We must conclude that a program licensed with such restrictions does not qualify as free software.

Louis Rossman talked about the problem with the misinterpretation of FOSS meaning free in price rather than freedom in this recent video here: https://yewtu.be/watch?v=iIr8Bk8QOHE.
He brings up several points including how people are roped into working for “evil” companies like FAANG to be able to sustain themselves because in the current environment, working on FOSS is typically unsustainable to live off of.

This expectation that open source software should be and will always be a product people don’t pay for needs to change. It should be normalized that people pay for the software they use, while still respecting users’ freedoms, because that will demonstrate respect for the people involved (developers, UI and UX designers, etc.) for their time, skills, and efforts, and most importantly, allow them to live their lives without needing to work multiple jobs or compromise their values by working for companies that go against the projects they work on.

8 Likes
82

IMO:
“free software” is just another snake-oil tabloid-style of renting out computer programs. “Free download”.
Does that mean we’re free to download it? “Free trial” who charges for a software trial? “Free” is the most abused word used by sellers.

If it’s “free” then it means no monetary charge but a very close examination of the privacy policy, terms of use, acceptable use policy should be down. Odds, are the company or it’s “partners” that the company is not responsible for will rape and pillage our rights to privacy. In short, we pay with our rights to privacy.

Most “free” software is what we use to call, “crippleware” You, free to download, free to try, but after hours spent with the freeware, we discover we need to buy the part that let’s us save our work, or similar scam.

I only have 41 years of experience purchasing software for clients. Not a lot of experience some will troll, but enough to see scams turn in to acceptable means of doing business.

IMO (still) we still rent software. The leap-frog of new devices needs new software, new software needs to be updated (bugs fixed), and now, we need a new OS and update to otherware.

It does change. A lot of companies plan a 1, 2, 5 year plan. Of course it changes, but a plan it to be where to company wants to be. If a company has a good enough product, their first year is the software is free, second year, improve the 'ware with add-ons. Well, you see where I’m going. And, I witness it all the time.

I never expected PureOS to be free, and a “subscription” is the first step to pricing it. Fortunately, the cost of maintain the OS can be added in to the cost of the Purism devices.

A new computer comes with free Windows? I doubt Microsoft is paying for out of petty cash. PureOS will go, is going, the same route. But over and above that, Purism is accepting Subscriptions, Investments, and project funding.
Compared to what the duopolies charge for a digital phone is taken in by 2 or 3 year contracts - but take in about From $1129 or $51.05/mo.per month for 24 mo.months at 7.99% APR for cheap iPhone. Or, there’s Galaxy S24 Ultra – priced at $1,300.
Compared to L5 at Liberty Phone $1,999.00 (aww come on, it;s $2k.)

'nuff said about that part.

I doubt anyone wants to deny a software dev for their work. IMO, if Puri were better managed, and frugal, they might be able to put software costs in to the price - once the price is reasonable.

I also doubt many people want to buy software that they must buy every time there is a upgrade to PureOS.

Summary:
I get the scheme behind “freedom respecting software” But with Windows, the software built to run on Win is far superior than what supports PureOS.
Purism has a long way to go to close the gap to where the cost is worth it.

Just my opinions based on my observations of many years playing the game of “free until you get the bill”.

I like your points BTW.
~s

1 Like