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The original was posted on /r/opensource by /u/EcstaticPudding6251 on 2024-10-29 17:04:49+00:00.

I’m a software engineer. My dad is one of those old-school general contractor types. Does all his work on pencil and paper, got his first smart-phone at 50 kind of guy.

I regularly make use of open source software in my projects and if I find an opportunity to contribute back to them then I will. From my dad’s perspective, he can’t fathom why someone would ever write software for free and make it publicly available, as this idea goes against the business owner part of his brain.

It’s not a super pressing issue or anything, I’m just seeing that he makes an effort to understand what I am working on, and I’m not sure how to explain open source to someone who has absolutely no familiarity with it.

I’m interested to hear your thoughts.