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I think the difference is that if Figma's website goes offline, you lose all of your figma stuff. If penpot gets acqui-killed, then you can just clone a version that you were comfortable with and keep going.


Yes, just like you can clone draw.io and run that forever. Except, until you can't.

Like last week when Safari 16 broke any use of the command key on Macs and we received 5+ reports per hour until it was fixed.


I don't think that is a good example, nothing is stopping you from using a different browser or operating system to keep using your preferred application after development is shutdown. If you are self-hosting these avenues are still open to you; a discontinued online service is just gone.


The way that I like to view it is this: if I put my laptop in a vault for 15 years and then open it back up, can I use the software?

Of course, I’ll be on a 15 year old OS but the answer appears to be “yes”.

Not the case with Figma or other hosted tools. Not even the case with Photoshop or tools that require license checks / internet connectivity.


If you use something like Nix or Guix, then you might be able to continue to install and run that very old software, even decades into the future, until the old repos vanish and the hardware becomes physically incompatible - at which point, if it's important enough to you, you may have put in the work to port the software forward to new (web) API revisions and browser behaviors.


What happened to draw.io? I use it regularly and wonder now if I need to find something new.




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