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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?

#21

Post by AndrewDucker »

fivelessminutes wrote: post #10
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?

They enjoy it.

They need to for their own needs.

It provides them with some other benefit.

Re: Is It Even Worth Working on FOSS Anymore?

#22

Post by jchw »

I hate to be contrarian but I can't understand what the point of this article is. It's a bit meandering and quite cynical.

For example, I agree that the company behind MuseScore has exhibited some bad behavior that is worth discussing, but their attempt to introduce opt-in telemetry to Audacity is difficult to classify as adding "spyware."

Also, the article meanders through a lot of different points that have very little in common other than being cynical. For some reason, it starts talking about stuff that isn't related to open source. It also talks about a lot of different issues regarding open source. I don't understand what the overarching message is, except for something along the lines of "all software development sucks."

The conclusion also strikes me as a little bit dramatic too:

> I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. If I make Rig Open Source, it could very well do more harm than good, regardless of whether I get paid! And if I don’t, it won’t get used anyway.

1. I don't understand why it's likely to do more harm than good, or by what measure. How does this tie into previous examples? How do you expect it to be "exploited"?

2. It doesn't seem to approach the completely valid question of why developers don't like using closed-source tools.

3. It seems to imply that the mere act of releasing software should entail some kind of payday or recognition, but that doesn't make any sense. I agree open source is undervalued, but so are a lot of things. Ask people who draw if they feel like their skill is valued appropriately; it's not. The reason why businesses are able to make money off of software is because they don't just write software, they also sell it. Even if you're trying to live off of donations, you still have to "sell" it. Look at how well-branded successful projects like Blender and Krita are! And a lot of projects use the "progress report" blogging format similar to the one successfully used by dolphin-emu to engage with the community. It's a lot of non-programming work.

I don't mean to devalue anyone. I can just about guarantee that if you do the selfless job of putting quality open source into the world, it will never, ever be paid at market rate. But that's the price you pay for being able to do whatever you want. An artist, 99.99% of the time, cannot make money creating whatever they like; most would probably only ever find serious success in graphic design. I think open source is a wonderful asset and has produced some amazing artifacts for us to enjoy that have done enormous good for the world. Can you even quantify the amount of good done by having a robust production-ready operating system used by everyone from budding geeks in gradeschool to production servers at Fortune 500 companies?

I hope you find whatever you are looking for, and I don't like being dismissive. But I urge people to see the non-cynical side of this.

Re: Is It Even Worth Working on FOSS Anymore?

#23

Post by jeltz »

dragonwriter wrote: post #20

> I have written licenses to make GitHub hesitate before using my code as input to Copilot Microsoft has claimed that consuming code for Copilot is fair use, and therefore does not require permission from the copyright owner, so how would a license—an offer of permission under limited terms—impact that at all? > But even if I solidify the licenses, what stops GitHub from ignoring them by claiming that their Terms of…

Yeah, the license does not matter because if the fair use argument does not hold then Copilot would violate even very permissive licenses like MIT since Copilot does not do attribution.

Re: Is It Even Worth Working on FOSS Anymore?

#26

Post by rndhouse »

sam_goody wrote: post #11

Although I agree with many of the sources of frustration mentioned in the article, there is a way: For most software projects, there should be a way to buy a commercial support license. For many, such a license should be required for use in any org which is over X employees. Even if not enforced, this way a conscientious dev can justify for paying for the license. In addition, for some of the deeper "plumbing" projec…

I'm working on precisely this problem. My current idea involves payment plans defined in code. See:

github.com/openfare/openfare

Re: Is It Even Worth Working on FOSS Anymore?

#27

Post by rnoorda »

kzrdude wrote: post #9
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. :)

I'm not a fan of the trend I've seen where GitHub is treated as a portfolio- I once had a hiring manager I worked with tell me I should delete a few of my GitHub projects, as they made me appear "amateurish." I WAS an amateur! And I don't want to feel like I need to to hide random things I've tinkered with just to impress others. As a result, I know those who have multiple GitHub accts, one for fun personal stuff and one for showing off to potential employers.

Re: Is It Even Worth Working on FOSS Anymore?

#29

Post by pabs3 »

vermilingua wrote: post #24

As a fresh CompSci graduate, is it worth it/valuable to try and work on OSS; or am I more likely to just get in the way? If so, what are some good resources for getting started?

Absolutely. There is infinite work to do, lots of it impactful, lots that can lead to jobs working on open source, and lots that definitely will not but is really needed. As a newcomer to OSS, you might want to try one of the paid OSS internship programs like GSoC or Outreachy, if done in the right area those often lead to jobs at open source companies. Outside of paid work, the best way to get involved is to use OSS and fix any issues you find in the tools you use. I've worked on everything from the Linux kernel to Windows hex editors that way. Many projects will have pages about how to help out, for example I've included Debian's below.

https://www.fossjobs.net/ https://github.com/fossjobs/fossjobs/wiki/Resources#internsh... https://www.debian.org/intro/help

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