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2025

September

Top-down view of two rooms. One room is dark and people have to use their phones as flashlights. On the wall is a pink and purple neon sign titled Commercial Software. The other room is well-lit, and people are working collaboratively there on projects. A text overlay identifies that room as Open Source.
Commercial Pain Points: Opaque Roadmap
Why proprietary software keeps you in the dark and how open source shines a light on the future.
Read Article
A steep incline conveyor belt in the parking lot of a commercial building, hauling trash up from a smaller pile to deposit it upon the top of a larger pile.
Commercial Pain Points: Old Bugs Never Get Fixed
How commercial software accumulates unresolved bugs and technical debt over decades, contrasted with the open-source community's capacity to rebuild, renew, and evolve.
Read Article
A grandfather clock now barely managing to retain its identity and function after having undergone multiple unnecessary and unsuccessful changes.
Commercial Pain Points: Feature Creep Over Stability
Why today's constant cycle of updates leads to fragile systems and disrupted work, and how open-source offers a steadier path.
Read Article
The customer is playing Whack-a-Mole while the Quality Assurance professional looks on in amusement.
Commercial Pain Points: Regression Errors
Regression errors reveal how vendors trade stability for speed, making customers pay for problems that should have stayed solved.
Read Article
Four chefs are loading the screen of one desktop PC with hot dogs, pizza, and hamburgers, while a much older desktop PC sits to the side, happy with its salad.
Commercial Pain Points: Performance Degradation
How commercial software's creeping bloat erodes performance and burdens the environment, contrasted with the open-source principles of efficiency, longevity, and sustainability.
Read Article
Commercial software as a larger man, riding in an elephant saddle on the back of a smaller man representing small business.
Commercial Pain Points: Monetization Over Customer
Commercial software vendors always prioritize monetization over customer value, in stark contrast with the user-first ethics of the open-source community.
Read Article
An agressive seller holding a credit card reader and offering only a basic package, while the open-source seller offers a box of tools at no charge.
Commercial Pain Points: Aggressive Upselling
Aggressive upselling puts profit before productivity, while open source restores the balance.
Read Article
Two fruit stands side-by-side. A sign on the proprietary fruit stand announces that these apples are now 20% more expensive while the operator glares at the other fruit stand. At the second fruit stand, the sign announces that you can take one, leave one, or just enjoy.
Commercial Pain Points: Surprise Price Increases
Profiteers take with surprise hikes, while open-source gives without strings.
Read Article
Two tables at the support potluck. At one table is a dish labeled $niffs, call now for a taste!. At the other table are several dishes having labels like free refills forever and try some, it's delicious.
Commercial Pain Points: Paywalls For Critical Support
Commercial vendors trap customers behind paywalls for critical support, while open-source offers true ownership and freedom.
Read Article

August

A man sitting at a desk, head in hand, haunted by tools, data, skyscrapers, road blockades, and broken flow charts.
Commercial Pain Points: Vendor Lock-In
Open-source software not only drastically reduces the pain of vendor lock-in but entirely eliminates the lock-in mechanism.
Read Article
A large tree with thick branches, lush leaves, and sprouting flowers over a green field view. From the branches are hanging several golden birdcages, each containing one parrot of a random coloring.
Commercial Pain Points: Closed Ecosystem
Closed ecosystem is one of the most persistent and frustrating pain points in commercial software, while open-source promotes integration by default.
Read Article
A car mechanic, holding an open-ended wrench of a common size, leaning in over the engine area under the open hood of an automobile, only to find that the inner workings are entirely composed of foreign looking gizmos and gadgets, none of which make any normal sense, and none of which would fit his trusty wrench.
Commercial Pain Points: Limited Customization
Commercial software is strictly limited by design, while open-source is limited only to the imagination.
Read Article

 

Entries by Category

 

Decline of Proprietary Technology

A man sitting at a desk, head in hand, haunted by tools, data, skyscrapers, road blockades, and broken flow charts.
Commercial Pain Points: Vendor Lock-In
Open-source software not only drastically reduces the pain of vendor lock-in but entirely eliminates the lock-in mechanism.
Read Article
A large tree with thick branches, lush leaves, and sprouting flowers over a green field view. From the branches are hanging several golden birdcages, each containing one parrot of a random coloring.
Commercial Pain Points: Closed Ecosystem
Closed ecosystem is one of the most persistent and frustrating pain points in commercial software, while open-source promotes integration by default.
Read Article
A car mechanic, holding an open-ended wrench of a common size, leaning in over the engine area under the open hood of an automobile, only to find that the inner workings are entirely composed of foreign looking gizmos and gadgets, none of which make any normal sense, and none of which would fit his trusty wrench.
Commercial Pain Points: Limited Customization
Commercial software is strictly limited by design, while open-source is limited only to the imagination.
Read Article
Top-down view of two rooms. One room is dark and people have to use their phones as flashlights. On the wall is a pink and purple neon sign titled Commercial Software. The other room is well-lit, and people are working collaboratively there on projects. A text overlay identifies that room as Open Source.
Commercial Pain Points: Opaque Roadmap
Why proprietary software keeps you in the dark and how open source shines a light on the future.
Read Article
A steep incline conveyor belt in the parking lot of a commercial building, hauling trash up from a smaller pile to deposit it upon the top of a larger pile.
Commercial Pain Points: Old Bugs Never Get Fixed
How commercial software accumulates unresolved bugs and technical debt over decades, contrasted with the open-source community's capacity to rebuild, renew, and evolve.
Read Article
A grandfather clock now barely managing to retain its identity and function after having undergone multiple unnecessary and unsuccessful changes.
Commercial Pain Points: Feature Creep Over Stability
Why today's constant cycle of updates leads to fragile systems and disrupted work, and how open-source offers a steadier path.
Read Article
The customer is playing Whack-a-Mole while the Quality Assurance professional looks on in amusement.
Commercial Pain Points: Regression Errors
Regression errors reveal how vendors trade stability for speed, making customers pay for problems that should have stayed solved.
Read Article
Four chefs are loading the screen of one desktop PC with hot dogs, pizza, and hamburgers, while a much older desktop PC sits to the side, happy with its salad.
Commercial Pain Points: Performance Degradation
How commercial software's creeping bloat erodes performance and burdens the environment, contrasted with the open-source principles of efficiency, longevity, and sustainability.
Read Article
Commercial software as a larger man, riding in an elephant saddle on the back of a smaller man representing small business.
Commercial Pain Points: Monetization Over Customer
Commercial software vendors always prioritize monetization over customer value, in stark contrast with the user-first ethics of the open-source community.
Read Article
An agressive seller holding a credit card reader and offering only a basic package, while the open-source seller offers a box of tools at no charge.
Commercial Pain Points: Aggressive Upselling
Aggressive upselling puts profit before productivity, while open source restores the balance.
Read Article
Two fruit stands side-by-side. A sign on the proprietary fruit stand announces that these apples are now 20% more expensive while the operator glares at the other fruit stand. At the second fruit stand, the sign announces that you can take one, leave one, or just enjoy.
Commercial Pain Points: Surprise Price Increases
Profiteers take with surprise hikes, while open-source gives without strings.
Read Article
Two tables at the support potluck. At one table is a dish labeled $niffs, call now for a taste!. At the other table are several dishes having labels like free refills forever and try some, it's delicious.
Commercial Pain Points: Paywalls For Critical Support
Commercial vendors trap customers behind paywalls for critical support, while open-source offers true ownership and freedom.
Read Article

Disadvantages of Commercial Technology: Control and Ownership

A man sitting at a desk, head in hand, haunted by tools, data, skyscrapers, road blockades, and broken flow charts.
Commercial Pain Points: Vendor Lock-In
Open-source software not only drastically reduces the pain of vendor lock-in but entirely eliminates the lock-in mechanism.
Read Article
A large tree with thick branches, lush leaves, and sprouting flowers over a green field view. From the branches are hanging several golden birdcages, each containing one parrot of a random coloring.
Commercial Pain Points: Closed Ecosystem
Closed ecosystem is one of the most persistent and frustrating pain points in commercial software, while open-source promotes integration by default.
Read Article
A car mechanic, holding an open-ended wrench of a common size, leaning in over the engine area under the open hood of an automobile, only to find that the inner workings are entirely composed of foreign looking gizmos and gadgets, none of which make any normal sense, and none of which would fit his trusty wrench.
Commercial Pain Points: Limited Customization
Commercial software is strictly limited by design, while open-source is limited only to the imagination.
Read Article
Top-down view of two rooms. One room is dark and people have to use their phones as flashlights. On the wall is a pink and purple neon sign titled Commercial Software. The other room is well-lit, and people are working collaboratively there on projects. A text overlay identifies that room as Open Source.
Commercial Pain Points: Opaque Roadmap
Why proprietary software keeps you in the dark and how open source shines a light on the future.
Read Article

Disadvantages of Commercial Technology: Profit-First Practices

Commercial software as a larger man, riding in an elephant saddle on the back of a smaller man representing small business.
Commercial Pain Points: Monetization Over Customer
Commercial software vendors always prioritize monetization over customer value, in stark contrast with the user-first ethics of the open-source community.
Read Article
An agressive seller holding a credit card reader and offering only a basic package, while the open-source seller offers a box of tools at no charge.
Commercial Pain Points: Aggressive Upselling
Aggressive upselling puts profit before productivity, while open source restores the balance.
Read Article
Two fruit stands side-by-side. A sign on the proprietary fruit stand announces that these apples are now 20% more expensive while the operator glares at the other fruit stand. At the second fruit stand, the sign announces that you can take one, leave one, or just enjoy.
Commercial Pain Points: Surprise Price Increases
Profiteers take with surprise hikes, while open-source gives without strings.
Read Article
Two tables at the support potluck. At one table is a dish labeled $niffs, call now for a taste!. At the other table are several dishes having labels like free refills forever and try some, it's delicious.
Commercial Pain Points: Paywalls For Critical Support
Commercial vendors trap customers behind paywalls for critical support, while open-source offers true ownership and freedom.
Read Article

Disadvantages of Commercial Technology: Quality and Stability

A steep incline conveyor belt in the parking lot of a commercial building, hauling trash up from a smaller pile to deposit it upon the top of a larger pile.
Commercial Pain Points: Old Bugs Never Get Fixed
How commercial software accumulates unresolved bugs and technical debt over decades, contrasted with the open-source community's capacity to rebuild, renew, and evolve.
Read Article
A grandfather clock now barely managing to retain its identity and function after having undergone multiple unnecessary and unsuccessful changes.
Commercial Pain Points: Feature Creep Over Stability
Why today's constant cycle of updates leads to fragile systems and disrupted work, and how open-source offers a steadier path.
Read Article
The customer is playing Whack-a-Mole while the Quality Assurance professional looks on in amusement.
Commercial Pain Points: Regression Errors
Regression errors reveal how vendors trade stability for speed, making customers pay for problems that should have stayed solved.
Read Article
Four chefs are loading the screen of one desktop PC with hot dogs, pizza, and hamburgers, while a much older desktop PC sits to the side, happy with its salad.
Commercial Pain Points: Performance Degradation
How commercial software's creeping bloat erodes performance and burdens the environment, contrasted with the open-source principles of efficiency, longevity, and sustainability.
Read Article