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Ask HN: Dear open source devs how do you sustain yourself

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Re: Ask HN: Dear open source devs how do you sustain yourself

#301

Post by xnyan »

fit2rule wrote: post #272
xnyan wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

15 years ago I was on a date with a wonderful young lady. We had a picnic and I brought my (at the time) very modern projector to watch a movie, projected on a bedsheet in the woods. Windows Media Player refused to play the DVD. No internet access at all. I thought I had failed...until I remembered that I had installed VLC. Opened the VTS.VOB on the DVD directly and boom, the video started and played back without a s…

Ha, I had the same experience on a date with my brand new tiBook in 2001 .. wouldn't play the DVD .. but VLC, which had been released around the same time as the tiBook, did though! In my case, we'd carried my tiBook up to the lawn on the front of the Hollyhock house in LA (Frank Lloyd Wright house), and watched Blade Runner on a blanket on the grass with the house in the background, as that glorious California sun s…

Look at that, we have a shared mac-windows love story...kind of!

Re: Ask HN: Dear open source devs how do you sustain yourself

#302

Post by jbk »

ta17711771 wrote: post #299
jbk wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> don't you think you'd enjoy more if you had worked on lots of different projects, tech, companies, etc... instead of "just" VLC? Well, to be honest, I'd love to extend what we're doing in VLC to other end-user applications like PDF reader, or the basic apps you have on Android and iOS.

Check out the "Simple" series of Android apps. You might find teaming with them could bring a huge boost to both sides!

Nice!

Re: Ask HN: Dear open source devs how do you sustain yourself

#303

Post by zeroego »

jbk wrote: post #57

I've been working on VideoLAN (VLC, x264, other...) for most of my professional life. For a long time, I had other jobs, working at startups around video, and doing VLC at nights and weekends and holidays. And now, I built a couple of companies around Open Source multimedia, where we do consulting, integration, custom development around software, applications development, licensing, support and so on. Those companies…

I've been using VLC for many years. I've donated several times and am very appreciative of VLC's existence. Thank you for doing what you do!

Re: Ask HN: Dear open source devs how do you sustain yourself

#304

Post by madballster »

jcampbell1 wrote: post #187
madballster wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I commend you for your personal ambition, but sometimes getting a different perspective can be a good thing. Your complaint basically is that you are having a hard time getting a VC investment for your (otherwise perfectly fine) running business that feeds a lot of mouths and - while not making a fortune - makes money. On a certain level that's akin to a tenured professor with a perfectly fine University career compl…

> On a certain level that's akin to a tenured professor You clearly haven’t run a small business. It’s more like being a dairy farmer where if you ever fail to make hay, every thing dies. There are good times and bad, but you are never free from the sword of Damocles.

I have, for over 10 years. Nobody ever promised me as an entrepreneur it would be a fun and secure ride start to finish. It wasn't, yet I am very happy and content.

For those who do not like the "risky" nature of it there are stable careers to choose from with monthly paychecks and health insurance.

Who ever guaranteed each and every hardworking software/tech business owner a $100 million exit event handed to them on a silver plate by a VC firm? Entitlement is not a path to happiness.

Re: Ask HN: Dear open source devs how do you sustain yourself

#305

Post by rohansuri »

ununoctium87 wrote: post #2

I’m responsible for a few repos, probably the most famous one being github.com/stretchr/testify. My solution is that as much as I love open source and the community I’m in, I do not let it get in the way of work and family. I’ll only contribute when I have spare time. Unless I were to be paid for it.

Thanks a ton for testify! It is indispensable for me at work.

Re: Ask HN: Dear open source devs how do you sustain yourself

#306

Post by GordonS »

erinaceousjones wrote: post #68
gitgud wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Open-core sucks" is a blanket statement as the incentives of the business do not align with the users of the project. And as a result, in my book it's a red flag for an open-source project, and I can't think of a single project I like which does this. The incentive of an "Open-core" business is to convert people to the premium version of the product. This has the effect of hindering/restricting development on the co…

I think open-core can work well, when done right - as long as you're not necessarily crippling your FOSS offering compared to the paid version(s). When the code is likely to be used by other businesses, for example. There's generally a trade-off between time and price: use the open core, develop your own additions to add in the extra functionality you want -- or buy a license and use the "premium" features. I can see…

I also think it can work well.

TimescaleDB is a good example - everything is open, but most is open source. The only parts that you need a commercial license for are "obviously" enterprise/scale features.

I use TimescaleDB in my ISV, and think it's a fantastic tool. Should I ever need the enterprise features, I would gladly pay for them and fund maintenance and growth of a tool I love.

Re: Ask HN: Dear open source devs how do you sustain yourself

#308

Post by erezsh »

XCSme wrote: post #158
etimberg wrote: post #152

I've been maintaining Chart.js [0] since 2014. I only work on it during my free time (evenings and weekends) to avoid any problems with my day job. Conflict with my day job is also one of the reasons why I don't take donations. There is some benefit to that though because it allows me to take a day/week/month off if I need it without feeling guilty. Once there is money involved, there are a lot more expectations and…

Thanks for creating Chart.js, I use it in my analytics app[0] to display graphs, I didn't find any better alternative yet. [0]: https://usertrack.net/

Looks nice. Have you considered creating a free-tier for open-source projects?

Re: Ask HN: Dear open source devs how do you sustain yourself

#309

Post by umen »

justinclift wrote: post #298
rsp1984 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. Can't stress points 2 and 3 enough. Remember Segment [1], one of YC's most successful companies, started out as a small open source tool on Github. But even though it was small and had basically no features, the enterprise loved it and asked for more. That's how they realized that they hit a nerve. So writing and releasing OSS may not lead to direct monetization opportunities, but it can be a great way to get i…

> ... started out as a small open source tool on Github. Their website doesn't seem to mention that in any way. :/

https://open.segment.com/

Re: Ask HN: Dear open source devs how do you sustain yourself

#310

Post by justinclift »

umen wrote: post #309
justinclift wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ... started out as a small open source tool on Github. Their website doesn't seem to mention that in any way. :/

https://open.segment.com/

Interesting, thanks. :)
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