I dunno this lacks nuance… I think this could easily be referring to different economic situations. The concept of donation usually has this implication of not being a for-profit entity or for a indie developer’s side project. These kinds of apps usually are still either open source or source available which is different than closed, proprietary applications. With this focus on money, I would assume that “free” is meaning gratis where users can often be the product & while the source is not available …or some VC-funded product where they are loss-leading a free tier now just eventually charge everyone later which is hardly good, with a dash of open washing to taste.

[–] Pantherina@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Free beer: dont pay and still get software

Free speech: get software you can trust, be sure there are no active backdoors etc.

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[–] xlash123@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Now what about software that pays you to use it?

Oh no, I just described cryptocurrency.

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