In the past, most software I used was paid and proprietary and would have some sort of limitation that I would try to get around by any means possible. Sometimes that would be resetting the clock on my computer, disabling the internet, and other times downloading a patch.
But in the past few years I’ve stopped using those things and have focused only on free and open source software (FOSS) to fulfill my needs. I hardly have to worry about privacy problems or trying to lock down a program that calls home. I might be missing out on some things that commercial software delivers, but I’m hardly aware of what they are anymore. It seems like the trend is for commercial software providers to migrate toward online or service models that have the company doing all the computing. I’m opposed to that, since they can take away your service at any time.
What do you do?
Yeah, FOSS alternatives are good nowadays so i mostly use them.
However recently i needed Adobe Illustrator, and i sat there looking at the free trial page wondering if i was really going to send my credit card to Adobe on the pinky promise that they weren’t going to charge me. So i decided to pirate, and what do you know, that’s also absurdly good nowadays.
And by the way, i found what i needed from the r/piracy wiki. We need like a megathread of recommendations, like if you need to crack Photoshop here’s where to get it, that kinda thing
