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GitHub stars won’t pay your rent

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Re: GitHub stars won’t pay your rent

#111

Post by turk73 »

kstenerud wrote: post #30

I'm closing in on 100 public, nontrivial, nonforked repos on github. Since github's inception, I've received a total of $200 in donations for my OSS stuff, 1 job from a company that uses a product of mine as the foundation of their business, and many job offers from people who are familiar with my work. I don't make money off OSS, and never have (at least not directly). But I just. can't. stop. I can't. I've tried su…

I commend your creativity, but I'm not sure you have your priorities straight. I hate to say I'm in in just for the money, but after just over 16 years, I'm just in it for the money. If you do work you should get paid for it. Companies and other people ostensibly get value from your work. Either find a way to get paid for it or stop doing it and do something else.

The world needs OSS, but it also needs well-compensated creative people who are at least middle class.

I have always suspected that a lot of OSS was created via European welfare state generosity.

Re: GitHub stars won’t pay your rent

#112

Post by goostavos »

swat535 wrote: post #101

Am I the only one who is confused by all the recent uproar in open source? I think open source software should be created purely based on joy with no monetization expectation from the creators. On the other hand, people using the software should have no expectations either, they should be grateful for the gift they have received. I believe the spirit of OSS should be contribute if you want to, if not, that's also ok.…

Have you ever maintained a large open source project? It is so, so far removed from the pure "just creating for the sake of software" idea. It is a job. It can exhausting, frustrating, boring, tedious, etc... you trade your nights and weekends for... the creative spirit? The joy of creating?

People talk about OSS like /r/choosingbeggers. "Why would I pay you for art? You should do it because it's your passion"

To be honest, I still love open source, but I have to take long breaks from maintenance because the "work" side of it -- the tedious zero effort issues opened, just gets to be demoralizing. The next large project will be closed source. I'm getting too old and grumpy to do project maintenance for free.

Re: GitHub stars won’t pay your rent

#113

Post by pythonslayer »

kstenerud wrote: post #30

I'm closing in on 100 public, nontrivial, nonforked repos on github. Since github's inception, I've received a total of $200 in donations for my OSS stuff, 1 job from a company that uses a product of mine as the foundation of their business, and many job offers from people who are familiar with my work. I don't make money off OSS, and never have (at least not directly). But I just. can't. stop. I can't. I've tried su…

[dead]

Re: GitHub stars won’t pay your rent

#114

Post by coldtea »

codegladiator wrote: post #43
paulcarroty wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> don't write OSS for money Why not? I'd prefer working with OSS for money over proprietary products.

Because you won't get money from OSS contribution for most part. If your priority is money, then OSS is not the best option unless you have a clear strategy of monetizing it.

That's based on a guy that just puts it out there on GitHub, doesn't have a side service based on his OSS stuff, doesn't offer support/commercial licenses, and so on...

Re: GitHub stars won’t pay your rent

#115

Post by coldtea »

huffmsa wrote: post #15
daurnimator wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I (and most people) used to buy encyclopedias. If wikipedia didn't exist, I would again...

How many information sources do you currently pay for on a monthly basis? How many times have you actually clicked the "donate" button when Jimmy Wales asks you to?

A couple and zero.

Re: GitHub stars won’t pay your rent

#116

Post by alollou »

jakobegger wrote: post #102
stanmancan wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried charging for commercial licenses? They can be the exact same as whatever you license it as now, but with a price tag. Relatively speaking it’s very hard for a company to donate money, but very easy to buy things. I know you said it’s not about the money, but if you -do- want to make more from it, maybe give it a try.

I've heard this idea so many times but I've never heard from anybody who actually made money like this.

Many do, including Kitze, the writer of the article. check out indiehackers for inspiration.

Re: GitHub stars won’t pay your rent

#117

Post by zrth »

jkoudys wrote: post #110
zrth wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

10% Sounds low. I can't judge for the product in question but for my programs, they are usually tiny blips standing on the shoulder of giants (libraries). So far i have never ask for money, if i'd do so i maybe would need to pass on 80% to not feel bad about it.. Not sure if you are cynical of sincere, either way, if the library devs get 47 cent from every donation driven program that relies on them, this could add u…

You're telling someone who saw years of work amount to only $96 that they only deserve 20% of that?

No i am not saying this. I am saying that: "I can't judge for the product in question "..

Re: GitHub stars won’t pay your rent

#118

Post by munmaek »

kstenerud wrote: post #30

I'm closing in on 100 public, nontrivial, nonforked repos on github. Since github's inception, I've received a total of $200 in donations for my OSS stuff, 1 job from a company that uses a product of mine as the foundation of their business, and many job offers from people who are familiar with my work. I don't make money off OSS, and never have (at least not directly). But I just. can't. stop. I can't. I've tried su…

> I can't. I've tried suppressing the urge to create, but I just can't do it. Ideas, challenges, problems, unmet potential, are everywhere, and I can't unsee them.

This is exactly how I am, too. I maintain a list of ideas of useful applications that I could build, particularly in the education space. I cannot stop coming up with f/oss ideas and I will not have the time to finish most of them.

Re: GitHub stars won’t pay your rent

#119

Post by therealmarv »

kstenerud wrote: post #30

I'm closing in on 100 public, nontrivial, nonforked repos on github. Since github's inception, I've received a total of $200 in donations for my OSS stuff, 1 job from a company that uses a product of mine as the foundation of their business, and many job offers from people who are familiar with my work. I don't make money off OSS, and never have (at least not directly). But I just. can't. stop. I can't. I've tried su…

I'm working since 2011 only for OSS software and non-profit organizations (unintentionally) and it was starting all with Google Summer of Code for me. Earning money and working for OSS can go in the same direction, it does not need to be side thing.

Re: GitHub stars won’t pay your rent

#120

Post by slang800 »

> Honestly, it felt kind of shitty to delete the repository and unpin the project from my profile.

It is kind of shitty to do that. Why not just archive the repo and add a note to the README that you've turned it into non-free software? At least that way you don't break the main link to the project or remove all the content from the issue tracker. This is a project that other people have contributed work to, so it's rude to just destroy that.

The most recent fork I can find is here: https://github.com/kuldeepkeshwar/sizzy

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