> In reality, you have a problem that a company provides you an app for free and wants your anonymous data to help improve it.
No, in reality, you have a company that bought the branding of a piece of free software. They didn't make Audacity. They contributed to versions 3.0 through 3.2.1 (which I've, personally, never used). They had nothing to do with the award-winning version 1.3.x, nor anything up to 2.4.2.
I'm not against companies taking on the maintenance of free software projects – provided it's not an Embrace Extend Extinguish ruse –, but throwing money around wouldn't entitle one to claim credit. (I'm not aware of Muse Group claiming credit for Audacity, but if anyone is pulling a stunt like that, I would like to write them a strongly-worded letter.)
No, in reality, you have a company that bought the branding of a piece of free software. They didn't make Audacity. They contributed to versions 3.0 through 3.2.1 (which I've, personally, never used). They had nothing to do with the award-winning version 1.3.x, nor anything up to 2.4.2.
I'm not against companies taking on the maintenance of free software projects – provided it's not an Embrace Extend Extinguish ruse –, but throwing money around wouldn't entitle one to claim credit. (I'm not aware of Muse Group claiming credit for Audacity, but if anyone is pulling a stunt like that, I would like to write them a strongly-worded letter.)