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What they don't tell you about maintaining an open source project

andrej.sh

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Re: What they don't tell you about maintaining an open source project

#61

Post by SoftTalker »

digi59404 wrote: post #52
SoftTalker wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The IRS will definitely bother you if they figure out you have unreported income. Will they find out? Maybe not if it’s a few hundred or even a few thousand dollars. More than $10K? Then it gets more likely. If a client sends you a 1099 then they’ll certainly know.

They’ll know because in the US and abroad the banks send the balances and transactions to the IRS. I get letters every year/6 months that I’m subject to additional withholding because they haven’t gotten any $$ but they show I have.

AFAIK only transactions over $10k are reported, maybe different between personal and business accounts?

Re: What they don't tell you about maintaining an open source project

#62

Post by venturecruelty »

burnished wrote: post #55
venturecruelty wrote: post #46

>but here's the thing: people come from different backgrounds. what's obvious to me after building the thing isn't obvious to someone installing it for the first time. Sure, but you're also not obligated to do... well, anything. And people are also allowed to read documentation and code and put in the effort to build and install things themselves. What happened to the oldschool hacker spirit that rewarded learning an…

Ah, the classic hacker spirit of commercializing every interaction?

No, the real one, not the one people talk about here.

Re: What they don't tell you about maintaining an open source project

#63

Post by [deleted] »

aleph_minus_one wrote: post #44
Klonoar wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But the company wants a proper invoice. And not every single developer is interested in founding a Limited and getting the tax office breathing down their neck every year. I feel like it shouldn't be poor form to say on this site - a site that predominantly has been about building tech companies and revenue streams - to get over it and charge them .

[flagged]

[deleted]

Re: What they don't tell you about maintaining an open source project

#64

Post by carlosjobim »

SoftTalker wrote: post #47
carlosjobim wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Come on, stop with this slave mentality please. You can make invoices without funding any company and without the tax office getting in your hair. It's not illegal to charge for your services and never has been. You can declare that income just fine, or skip it. The tax office won't bother you.

The IRS will definitely bother you if they figure out you have unreported income. Will they find out? Maybe not if it’s a few hundred or even a few thousand dollars. More than $10K? Then it gets more likely. If a client sends you a 1099 then they’ll certainly know.

Considering he is doing it for free, it won't be more than a few thousand dollars. And he can report it and pay tax on it if he pleases.

Re: What they don't tell you about maintaining an open source project

#65

Post by calvinmorrison »

SoftTalker wrote: post #53
calvinmorrison wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if you purchase a $500/yr support contract 500/hr more like.

I mean you might have to negotiate a bit but yeah, a simple professional statement like “My rate for custom enhancements is $X/hr” is not going to ruffle any feathers. They might not bat an eye. The thing is if you agree, now you have to deliver. Be sure it’s something you want to do. If the project is open source because you don’t want to be a business, then be careful about letting a little quick cash change your m…

I wouldnt worry about the license, unless you licenses yourself into a corner. MIT is great for this.

Secondly, yes. The biggest challenge I have seen is getting on "VENDOR LISTS". Vendor approval is a huge PITA. master agreements, proof of insurance, etc.

Re: What they don't tell you about maintaining an open source project

#66

Post by carlosjobim »

digi59404 wrote: post #49
carlosjobim wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Come on, stop with this slave mentality please. You can make invoices without funding any company and without the tax office getting in your hair. It's not illegal to charge for your services and never has been. You can declare that income just fine, or skip it. The tax office won't bother you.

This isn’t true. The tax office will bother you, the client also will demand you have an actual company with liability insurance and more. There is a tremendous amount of legal and paperwork once you start accepting money and working with corps. It’s a nightmare.

You don't seem to understand the power balance here. The client is in no position to demand anything, since the article author can just tell them to scram, and they can solve their own problems.

Working with corps is not a problem. Unless you have a slave mentality that is, and let them bully you and stomp all over you. If they have their wits with them, they will fully understand what negotiating position they are in, and not make unnecessary demands on the software creator.

Re: What they don't tell you about maintaining an open source project

#68

Post by PartiallyTyped »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #16

I liked the humble, “lessons learned” tone of the post. > every feature you add is a feature you maintain forever. This. Keeping a framework/app/SDK “pure” is very important, in my experience.

> Keeping a framework/app/SDK “pure” is very important, in my experience.

Could you elaborate?

Re: What they don't tell you about maintaining an open source project

#69

Post by pavel_lishin »

SoftTalker wrote: post #56
pavel_lishin wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's very often that people here lament the fact that they're not outside being outside, in the weather, doing manual labor. How may of us don't dream, at least once a week, of walking out into the woods, or taking up woodworking instead, or wondering how long it would take to retrain as a plumber? I channel that into my gardening during the appropriate seasons, but now that it's November, all that woodworking equipm…

> how long it would take to retrain as a plumber Yeah people have thoughts like this but then you hear a story about lying on your back in a muddy 3’ crawl space cutting into a blocked sewer line to install a cleanout and hoping you can roll away when the liquid starts pouring out. Then your desk job writing code starts to sound a little better.

Well hey, that's why I'm still commenting here. I've seen what the plumbers who come to my house have to do.

Re: What they don't tell you about maintaining an open source project

#70

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

PartiallyTyped wrote: post #68
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #16

I liked the humble, “lessons learned” tone of the post. > every feature you add is a feature you maintain forever. This. Keeping a framework/app/SDK “pure” is very important, in my experience.

> Keeping a framework/app/SDK “pure” is very important, in my experience. Could you elaborate?

I’m a fan of “singleness of purpose.”

For example, if the framework provides text storage, adding text processing might be a mistake. Instead, make another framework that can be strung onto the text storage one.

It increases the granularity, and the usefulness of the modules. You could have multiple processing frameworks.

In addition, it allows you to refine discrete functionality domains (which can also be personnel assignment domains), and reduces the places for bugs to manifest. You can devote more tests to each framework.

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