Ubuntu Pro is a subscription offering for Ubuntu users who want to pay for the assurance of getting quick and high-quality security updates for Ubuntu. I tested it out to see how it works in practice, and to evaluate how well it works as a commercial open source service model for Linux.\n
  • Avid Amoeba@lemmy.ca
    3·
    2 months ago

    I think there’s an issue with who does the work and who gets paid. Zorin is based on Ubuntu, which is based on Debian. The vast majority of the work is done by people who contribute their time to Debian. Ubuntu does a significant amount of work on top, especially around security patching. Zorin does less as they use Ubuntu’s repos. So if I pay $100 to Zorin, I end up paying people who did the least amount of work for making Zorin OS. Worse, I did not at all improve the sustainability of Zorin, if an important package maintainer in Debian stops donating their time and Ubuntu doesn’t pick up the slack, Zorin’s in trouble. This is why merely paying for some open source project may not be enough or the right thing. It’s also not clear at all who I should pay unless I spend a lot of time looking into it. It’s a problem and there may not be a market solution as these large FOSS projects aren’t market phenomena. Debian is driven by dynamics much closer to from each according to their ability to each according to their needs than wage-driven labour.