Entitled to FOSS

I complain a lot about Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) - it's not just with FOSS though, it applies to everything that I love and endorse, that just happens to be mostly FOSS when it comes to software. I've seen this being said before, and I agree with it wholeheartedly, that developers, particularly unsung (unpaid) heroes of FOSS software, DO NOT owe their users anything. You could always issue a bug report or a feature request as a user, but the people behind the software can always choose to ignore them - it's theirs after all, and others can contribute or even take that software as their own to do whatever they want with it, should they want to.

I agree with it, but I complain anyway. My complaints are never targeted to the people behind them, but the software itself - with good intentions. I often approach these software not as myself, but as your average, general user. The perfect software is the kind of software where you could easily recommend to people, on its own or as an alternative to something more familiar or mainstream, without (too much) caveats. My complaints are really just a means to verbalise any issues or shortcomings I find with these software that I love and endorse (or would want to). By not keeping them to myself, there's always a chance that it might get picked up by developers or contributors of said software, other existing or future software, or even myself on things that I consider would significantly improve these software in an effort to reduce these caveats.

I would never do so while feeling entitled that that's what would or should happen though, it's fine and completely valid even if it doesn't lead to anything - it doesn't need to lead to anything, because again, that's not what we're entitled to as users of these software, even the ones we love. At the end of the day, it is up to them what they do with their creation that we happen to be lucky and privileged to be allowed to benefit from and take as ours, and it is up to us to have our own expectations for the app or software that we use. As long as everyone agrees to this simple principle, the world can continue to go round :)

Anyway, that being said, for those that have always been supportive or interested in my rants about (FOSS) software that I love, I plan to talk about them in future articles on here as a way to document them neatly and more reliably than posting them on social media. As a start, I might write about my recent migration from Plex to Jellyfin and what that change has been like for those who are interested in doing the same. I try not to turn this blog into a guide or wiki though, as I already have my Linux and Homelab Wiki for just that on most things. Here's hoping that I could keep this place tidy and focused on my experiences and thoughts instead.