XPost: alt.comp.freeware   
   From: marion@facts.com   
      
   On Sun, 31 Aug 2025 11:31:25 -0700, Mike Easter wrote :   
      
      
   >> The point simply is that it does   
   >> "something" for free. And that's what matters for freeware.   
   >   
   > I'm not clear on what you are doing about your 'index of suspicion' that   
   > you should maintain for the adage, 'if you are not paying for the   
   > product, you ARE the product'.   
      
   >   
   > Personally I don't subscribe to that, because I live in a world which is   
   > full of volunteers who collaborate on open so rce ware, and they aren't   
   > trying to 'get' me, b t I'm also a die-hard skeptic who feels that there   
   > are all kinds of both good-g ys and bad-g ys l rking behind free st ff.   
   >   
   > Hmmmph. My 'yew' key died d.ring this msg.   
      
   My argument that "you get what you pay for" is bro science.   
   My argument is "you get what you get" & "you pay what you pay".   
   That's science.   
      
   Bro science sounds good.   
   But bro science isn't science.   
      
   I'm an intelligent person who is extremely well educated, so I'm extremely   
   well aware that most people are incredibly stupid when it comes to   
   understanding things.   
      
   Take gravity. It's not a force. It's just not. But most think it is.   
   Take milk. It's not natural. It's just not. Not for adults.   
   Take the iPhone. It's not more secure than Android. It's just not.   
   Take premium gasoline. It's not better than regular. It's just different.   
   Take pH and the pKa of HOCl in pool water where the pool store will scream   
   at you if your pH is higher than about 7.6 and yet the pH doesn't matter in   
   an outdoor pool. Nobody knows this. Not even pool professionals.   
      
   Take "zero gravity" where the only force on those astronauts orbiting is   
   that they are very much under the influence of a hellova lot of gravity.   
      
   Take politics where Trump is so bad that the Democrats don't realize they   
   had to be much worse to lose so miserably to him and yet they don't realize   
   that fact.   
      
   Take world affairs where Iran has no natural disputes with Israel and yet   
   Iran foments both direct and proxy wars with Israel on ideology alone.   
      
   Take motor oil where the only thing that "really" matters if you change   
   your oil is the API & SAE grades, where, let's face it, you can't find a   
   bad motor oil nowadays based on that spec.   
      
   Speaking of the specs, you can't find a bad tire either or a bad battery or   
   a bad brake pad, etc., if you buy the things by the specifications.   
      
   Yet most people can't handle that there is detail and knowledge needed to   
   buy a brake pad by the coefficient of friction even though the cold/hot   
   friction rating has to be printed on every box sold in the United States.   
      
   Just like the friction of every tire and the wear rating and the speed   
   rating (actually heat dissipation rating) has to be printed on every tire.   
      
   I'm trying to make a point here that the dumber a person is, the more they   
   try to hide behind some kind of bro science aphorism that is supposed to   
   have some meaning to them over and above what everyone else knows.   
      
   Anyone who says "you get what you pay for" is stupid.   
   Anyone who says "if you get it for free, you are the product" is too.   
      
   That's bro science.   
      
   It's like saying an electric car doesn't pollute because it has no   
   tailpipe. It sounds great. It even seems logical. Yet it's wrong.   
      
   Depending on how you count pollution, an electric car pollutes twice as   
   much as ICE vehicles do and certainly it takes far more GHG emissions just   
   to put the electric car on the dealers' parking lot than an ICE vehicle.   
      
   Bro science is for people who are stupid.   
   Bro science sounds great.   
      
   I ran into it today when the pool store told me to add acid when I add   
   chlorine to my pool, because, they said, the chlorine has a pH of 13 so it   
   raises the pH and therefore you need to add acid to bring the pH back down.   
      
   Sounds great, right?   
   I took chemistry in college. Organic too.   
   It makes sense.   
      
   But it's wrong.   
   And that's the point.   
      
   Bro science sounds good.   
   But bro science isn't science.   
      
   Anyway, I think we're in agreement.   
      
   In my book, people who say "you get what you pay for" and/or "if you get it   
   for free then you are the product" never seem to understand what it is that   
   they got.   
      
   The fact is, you get what you get.   
   It's up to you and me to know what that is.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)