A comment about the news on Audacity development, acquisition by MuseGroup, etc. (previously we could think on MuseScore) and free software work and communities in general, about which I would much like any insights and opinions:
Judging for the reactions here[1] and here[2], it seems that forking is one considered option.
But development (of software and communities) it's already hard enough to sustain and make grow, so, it's reasonable to try to avoid fragmentation as long as it's sensible and convenient.Under capitalism this happens once and again. Developers want to eat and live properly (from their own work) and capitalists make use of that necessity to capture work already done (and future), i.e., profit, with the perspective of an initial inversion (sometimes, at least) and a viable structure.
But the reason-to-be of capital is the capture of surplus value (sorry for the jargon, please allow me) in an always increasing cycle, and that's inevitably in conflict with the social common interest and solidarity that's at the kernel of free software culture and communities.
In a very superficial analysis I guess the Muse Group[3] is in first place this guy Eugeny Naidenov that apparently founded "Ultimate Guitar" (nothing FLOSS until here) and then went in a succession of acquisitions just to increase his Group's portfolio, and those acquisitions are both of free software developments/platforms and proprietary, so, doesn't seems like a free software endeavor but just "business as usual"...
Free software communities will have to show their abilities to defend themselves. This is historic, and I really desire for the best.
[1] https://github.com/audacity/audacity/discussions/889
[2] https://github.com/audacity/audacity/discussions/932
[3] https://mu.se/
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