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Is It Even Worth Working on FOSS Anymore?

gavinhoward.com

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Re: Is It Even Worth Working on FOSS Anymore?

#4

Post by mgaunard »

The reasons you write open-source code:

  - training purposes to better yourself
  - as a showcase or to build up your reputation to get hired
  - because you have a niche need in your personal life that no one else already solved
None of those reasons are invalidated by big corporations using open-source without paying back.

Re: Is It Even Worth Working on FOSS Anymore?

#6

Post by db48x »

larsrc wrote: post #5

Define "worth". We were never in it for the money. I maintained Dia for 8 years and never saw a penny. If you don't like your FOSS project being used by evil capitalist megacorps, put an anti-commercial license on it.

If he does that then it won’t be Free.

Re: Is It Even Worth Working on FOSS Anymore?

#8

Post by nopenopenopeno »

The FOSS that was imagined by Stallman, where end-users could actually use FOSS products in their everyday lives, is not possible under capitalism. So what you have instead is effectively a network of semi-public property primarily for industry use. But, just as anything else that industry cannot turn for a profit, FOSS is and will always be in the lowest of priorities, if a priority at all. Cheers to Stallman, but at this point the future of FOSS will have more to gain from the work of Karl Marx.

Re: Is It Even Worth Working on FOSS Anymore?

#9

Post by kzrdude »

mgaunard wrote: post #4

The reasons you write open-source code: - training purposes to better yourself - as a showcase or to build up your reputation to get hired - because you have a niche need in your personal life that no one else already solved None of those reasons are invalidated by big corporations using open-source without paying back.

I'd like to include my reasons:

- It's a lot of fun

- It's addictive

Honestly I was a bit struck when a friend looked at my github and said it was a nice portfolio. The material view never hit me at all: my github is a product purely of what I've wasted/spent time on for fun, not to make a profile. :)

Re: Is It Even Worth Working on FOSS Anymore?

#10

Post by fivelessminutes »

mgaunard wrote: post #4

The reasons you write open-source code: - training purposes to better yourself - as a showcase or to build up your reputation to get hired - because you have a niche need in your personal life that no one else already solved None of those reasons are invalidated by big corporations using open-source without paying back.

The original reason may not be invalidated.

But as a continuous activity, over years, what exactly is in it for maintainers to get up in the morning and trade their remaining lease on life for value to be consumed by rich leeches?

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