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GitHub stars won’t pay your rent

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Re: GitHub stars won’t pay your rent

#121

Post by codegladiator »

coldtea wrote: post #114
codegladiator wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

Correct, and as that guy, I don't have enough time to build the side services and market it because of lack of time meanwhile maintain of job ofcourse (if you are planning oss without a job, tread carefully). Though I really want to so saving up for that.

Re: GitHub stars won’t pay your rent

#122

Post by therealmarv »

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.

I will tell you a secret: There are corporate and non-profit organizations out there which want to you to write open source software and they pay you for it (I know it's shocking).

Re: GitHub stars won’t pay your rent

#123

Post by treve »

joeblau wrote: post #88

> when you give away something completely for free, people aren’t that motivated to pay for it. I created gitingore.io about 8 years ago and it's almost at 5000 stars. I had nearly 100k MAU's and that was still not enough to survive. My customers included developers form top tech startups and major companies in the world but the product was free. I ended up selling it so I can re-focus on something more valuable.

I think this is a good example of not all projects are equal. I have donated to projects that have an especially large impact on my project, or that solve an especially hard problem. I don't think your project is either. Lots of people might use it, but relative impact to productivity will probably always be low. I think that's ok, and it's a neat project though.

Re: GitHub stars won’t pay your rent

#124

Post by louthy »

novaleaf wrote: post #105
louthy wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel exactly the same (with ~300 forks, ~3000 stars - not that it means anything). It's a creative urge, like writing music (which I also do, and I feel the passion for both is very similar). I've received some donations, but nothing that could pay for anything significant, but I don't really see the donations as something that might eventually pay, but instead I see them as "thank you for the work", which is alway…

My project has 2 stars, 0 forks, and I also can't stop keeping it updated :)

xlib? you've got 3 now :)

Re: GitHub stars won’t pay your rent

#125

Post by piotrkubisa »

therealmarv wrote: post #119
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.

That's interesting, if you could share your story I think we would eagerly like to make your acquaintance.

Re: GitHub stars won’t pay your rent

#126

Post by ab_c »

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've got a lot of respect to the ppl who work on OSS, especially the maintainers since they're in the trenches tending to a lot of the daily crap we often don't see.

Re: GitHub stars won’t pay your rent

#127

Post by coldtea »

codegladiator wrote: post #121
coldtea wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

Correct, and as that guy, I don't have enough time to build the side services and market it because of lack of time meanwhile maintain of job ofcourse (if you are planning oss without a job, tread carefully). Though I really want to so saving up for that.

I meant the original poster of TFA!

But still, it's something else to say

"OSS doesn't make money" (which is controversial, if not wrong)

instead of:

"OSS doesn't make money if you don't have enough time to build the side services and market it because of lack of time meanwhile maintain[ing] a job"

(which most can agree with)

Re: GitHub stars won’t pay your rent

#128

Post by amclennon »

> Last summer I tried using the app again and my first reaction was “omfg why do people even use this thing, it can be so much better”. But people didn’t see it that way.

This part resonated with me quite a bit. However, I've often found that a certain percentage of these people are sometimes willing to pay for support or having specific features added. Especially when using your software can save the organization a tangible dollar amount.

I've personally been on both sides of this equation.

Re: GitHub stars won’t pay your rent

#129

Post by hanniabu »

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…

> But I just. can't. stop.

It's human nature to create and to want to help others.

Re: GitHub stars won’t pay your rent

#130

Post by tigrezno »

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…

You're a good person, keep up the good work dude.
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