And by extension, all users of FOSS must be the product, right?
I see it more like a question than a rule.
"The service is free. Am I the product?"
That is a valid thing to ask. Even with FOSS sometimes.
Some FOSS projects are backed by companies, then yes, plausible to ask.
Otherwise, I would answer with a clear no.
(Projects can still collect telemetry and other data and sell that, though the sell part should be very rare, imo...)
Edit: Was that a bad faith argument or a honest question?
Sometimes I can't tell, maybe because of old or ESL...
When you use a FOSS product more, the person that wrote the code doesn't end up spending more money. When you use a free service more, someone is paying for that usage and resources.
And by extension, all users of FOSS must be the product, right?
Crowd sourced Development and Quality Assurance for something multiple companies, governments and the military are using.
> all users of FOSS must be the product, right?
i would default to this being the truth, until demonstrated otherwise. Call it cynical, but it's the cynical that survive.