I think we need to separate the system from the product. With Reddit they're the same, with a single owner. With Lemmy/ActivityPub, just like with email, there's an underlying system that nobody owns. It's an ecosystem of pieces created by lots of different people.

It is a good thing that people are building products on top of that. Some of them are FOSS and some of them not. As long as no-one gets too much control of the underlying system then that's great! Users retain choice and can choose FOSS apps if they want, or they can choose something like Sync.

I agree it would be sad if the only apps were paid, but I think a mix is a sign of a healthy ecosystem.

[–] elfahor@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

As to your last sentence: the issue would not be these mobile applications being paid, it would be these being nonfree (as in freedom). I'd pay for good Foss apps (though I'm happy I don't need to)

[–] Torvum@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It's elitist to not accept a developer that has a specific goal set in mind for a project and is developing it without intent of forks.

There's no mandate that you must use this client, unlike Reddit's official app.