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Looking for Work After 25 Years of Octave

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Re: Looking for Work After 25 Years of Octave

#221

Post by SandB0x »

sandGorgon wrote: post #116

This post today is what is wrong with open source software. If someone knows jwe, then they should tell him that lots of corporates and startups WANT to support stuff like this. But you cannot give a paypal link and expect donations. As a company, I cant do that. I need an invoice. Hell, if you can get a business account, I daresay you will get subscriptions. I like to call this "gratitude-ware". Check out Sidekiq Pr…

I'd imagine it would be very hard to switch to that kind of model after all this time. Wouldn't guaranteeing a permanent level of support would likely involve hiring people and having to bring in enough to support them too?

It might not be that hard if you're motivated and have that vision, but I can completely understand someone not wanting the added pressure after all this time.

Re: Looking for Work After 25 Years of Octave

#222

Post by pjmlp »

astrodust wrote: post #183
seagreen wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Then Linux happened, then scripting languages like Perl, Python and PHP proved themselves capable of getting the job done, and the modern web came about. This would never, ever have happened without those tools. So Linux was so good . . . that it enabled a world where normal people don't use it, but instead use JS apps that store information on other people's servers? Because that's what I hear when you say Linux i…

Normal people use Android phones. Which use Linux. Normal people use shared hosting. Which often uses Linux. Normal people use Linux a lot more than they realize. I think it's fine they don't have to pay attention to that, that computers can be invisible that way, but if you call yourself someone familiar with technology you can't be ignorant to it. So do you have an argument or just a whole lot of misplaced anger?

Android phones run on a Java runtime with constrained access to native libraries. Google can replace Linux for something else, no one will notice.

Normal people use shared hosting, with runtimes that don't require Linux. It could be something else and PHP, Perl, ASP, JEE stacks will still run.

Normal people use Linux on devices, because it is the best OS OEMs can get their hands on without paying a dime for it.

Re: Looking for Work After 25 Years of Octave

#224

Post by pjmlp »

kazga wrote: post #204
seagreen wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Then Linux happened, then scripting languages like Perl, Python and PHP proved themselves capable of getting the job done, and the modern web came about. This would never, ever have happened without those tools. So Linux was so good . . . that it enabled a world where normal people don't use it, but instead use JS apps that store information on other people's servers? Because that's what I hear when you say Linux i…

What exactly do you think the majority of "the web" runs on?

The Web is a set network protocols and web browsers, all of them born on commercial UNIX systems, not Linux.

GNU/Linux and *BSD became relevant to the web infrastructure, as no one wanted to give money for UNIX.

Which is the culture that lead developers as the Octave's author to search for income elsewhere.

Re: Looking for Work After 25 Years of Octave

#225

Post by pjmlp »

kafkaesq wrote: post #85
vcistan-inmate wrote: post #41

I don't understand how YC can fund non-profits like VotePlz and the ACLU while not funding stuff like this. All of the startups funded by VCs use free software, often exclusively, but these VCs continue to refuse to adequately fund its development. Marc Andreessen even publicly boasted about how much OSS his companies use[1], which he of course doesn't pay for. I also shudder to think of how Eaton will fare on the jo…

Will his work on Octave--which by all rights should be able to serve as a strong-enough resume by itself to justify his hiring--even be looked at by potential employers? It'll probably register on the backs of their eyeballs somewhere. Some of them might even might even experience some momentary flash of recognition: "Octave? Right, yeah. Some GNU thingy..." before catching themselves and saying "Well that's, nice. B…

You mean like Google refused to hire Homebrew's author, because he failed to make an inverted tree exercise?

Re: Looking for Work After 25 Years of Octave

#226

Post by Arnt »

zerr wrote: post #215
sandGorgon wrote: post #116

This post today is what is wrong with open source software. If someone knows jwe, then they should tell him that lots of corporates and startups WANT to support stuff like this. But you cannot give a paypal link and expect donations. As a company, I cant do that. I need an invoice. Hell, if you can get a business account, I daresay you will get subscriptions. I like to call this "gratitude-ware". Check out Sidekiq Pr…

> But you cannot give a paypal link and expect donations. As a company, I cant do that. Why?

In a nutshell: Companies don't give money away.

If you want money from companies, you have offer the trinity that suits their payment rules and habits: An order, an invoice, a payment.

What you sell doesn't have to make sense to the beancounters. They're used to that. But it has to be something they're able to order and pay for.

Re: Looking for Work After 25 Years of Octave

#227

Post by yazaddaruvala »

joshlemer wrote: post #149
yazaddaruvala wrote: post #17

This is not a scalable model of software funding. People may send you money today, because its on their minds, but bills will have to be paid again next month, and next year. Please get yourself, a Patreon account, or something similar. Meanwhile, I'm sure MathWorks is looking for people with exactly your domain knowledge[0]. https://www.mathworks.com/company/jobs/opportunities/?s_tid=...

Although Patreon is nice, it seems to be more focused on artists and the like. A similar project focused on Open Source Software is Bounty Source Salt ( https://salt.bountysource.com/ )

While I do agree, an unrelated philosophy question:

Is a piece of software not art? Are its creator/creators not artists, expressing their vision?

Re: Looking for Work After 25 Years of Octave

#228

Post by pbhjpbhj »

astrodust wrote: post #185
aoeu345 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For what it's worth, I used to live with a guy who used the Magic Lantern firmware add-on for certain Canon cameras, which was very powerful free software that had a community forum. He would tell me about how he'd shit talk the devs for not including some feature or when something wasn't working. It's pretty terrible.

Having a community leader who isn't afraid to crack some heads to keep people in line is always important. People like this poison any community. Make a Code of Conduct and use it to control your community rather than let your community control you. It's like parents complaining their kids are "out of control" and "there's nothing I can do". Seriously? We've been raising kids for a hundred thousand years. This shit i…

>Seriously? We've been raising kids for a hundred thousand years. //

I wonder what proportion of that has been done with only a couple of hours of parental/family contact per day (and those when the parents are most tired).

Also probably, for better or worse, corporal punishment has been a mainstay up until the last few decades.

In short, I don't think modern Western parenting can rely much on the methods of the past.

It's totally OT but I'm interested in thoughts/responses.

Re: Looking for Work After 25 Years of Octave

#229

Post by travisjungroth »

Y_Y wrote: post #210
realPubkey wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have watched how people use crypto-currencies to donate for a long time. I also tried it for a own privacy-project which has over 10.000 users / day. Since you can see the donation-amount in the blockchain, I'm free to say that "blockchains" are not the solution to this problem. People do not donate, no matter if via paypal or bitcoin.

"10.000" What number is this? Is it ten? Ten thousand? I don't think decimal (thousand) separators are necessary when you can write the number without, use scientific notation or the number in words. But there is an English-speaking standard (comma) and an international standard (thin space). Considering that there are at least five better options I think this usage is perverse.

Some countries use dots instead of commas for thousand separators.

Re: Looking for Work After 25 Years of Octave

#230

Post by pjmlp »

wpietri wrote: post #197
anigbrowl wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Closed source is a business model because the customer wants what your software does but can't see how it's achieved, so they pay you money to buy a license instead of just re-implementing it.

No. I have a ton of closed-source software in my projects folder. That's not a business model. Neither is open-source software, where I take some of that stuff and throw it up on GitHub. A business model is where I repeatably create value for others and receive money in exchange. A modern software company can do that in a variety of ways, including selling training, documentation, support, custom features, consulting…

The difference with open source, is that I can take you out of business with the code you wrote yourself.
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