The sad consequence of OSS is that the cost of software is fast approaching $0. Only SaaS barely manages to turn in a profit these days and I think that's simply because server-side is the only software still seen as costly. And even then, a common response from customers will be "why do I need to register". People are happy to marry a giant and sign up with Apple/Google/etc. Everyone else is expected to give their work for free and even support it. The world would be a better place if devs collectively stopped this
Apache PLC4X announcing end of community support due to missing funding
31–40 of 162 posts
Re: Apache PLC4X announcing end of community support due to missing funding
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm probably missing something but why would the industry back this? This makes it easier to combine and switch between manufacturers while they probably prefer vendor lock-in. Once a factory starts using your PLC it will continue buying replacements and upgrades forever. I only had brief exposure to this domain years ago, working on a single Siemens PLC control project. The whole software stack was utter garbage (GU…
I'm probably missing something but why would the industry back this? The device manufacturer side of the industry probably wouldn't back it. The people who do the integration work would though. They're the ones who actually benefit from it.
I remember listening to a podcast with the Braintree founder and he had mentioned how they worked with the other payment providers out there to create some shared, common standards. This type of competition / co-opetition does happen from time to time (also see Lyft and Uber also co-lobbying governments together).
No idea how this would work for this industry though
Re: Apache PLC4X announcing end of community support due to missing funding
#33This is dangerously close to being off-topic but it would be good to hear from people interested in PLC4X: I would really like to see home appliance manufacturers extend their products with a simple 2.n IO pin interface at the back. Absolutely minimal. For example: a kettle could have an input pin to turn it on/off and an output pin that just writes whether it is on or not. A simple 4-pin interface on the back in thi…
The standard you probably want is IO-Link, or close to it.
It was meant to bring a bit of smarts to the standard 3-wire sensors and basic actuation pins, with 100% backwards compatibility.
So you have a standard analog temperature sensor that outputs 4-20ma on its pins. With IO-Link, it still does that, but if you hook it up to an io-link master, you can just read the temperature directly in C/F on the same pins. Or adjust the calibration. Or …
It's not a perfect match, mind you, but i think it's pretty close.
Re: Apache PLC4X announcing end of community support due to missing funding
#34Developments like this one and the faker.js and colors.js fiasco from last week have made me rethink my position about licensing. Now it seems to me that releasing code you wrote for free under a permissive open-source license is somewhere between ill-advised and unethical. On one hand it will not benefit you in any way, on the other, it will be incorporated in a company's proprietary project thus lowering the expens…
I don't see where it is not ethical.
At any point you can decide to pursue or stop maintaining the code and anyone can decide to fork and take over. It is just naive to think you will always find fun in working on it or pretend you might make a living out of it unless you have a strong business plan.
Re: Apache PLC4X announcing end of community support due to missing funding
#35Developments like this one and the faker.js and colors.js fiasco from last week have made me rethink my position about licensing. Now it seems to me that releasing code you wrote for free under a permissive open-source license is somewhere between ill-advised and unethical. On one hand it will not benefit you in any way, on the other, it will be incorporated in a company's proprietary project thus lowering the expens…
>code you wrote for free
>for free
How much open source code is actually written by hobbyists working for free? Most of the Linux code is written by paid engineers employed by big tech companies.
Re: Apache PLC4X announcing end of community support due to missing funding
#36This is dangerously close to being off-topic but it would be good to hear from people interested in PLC4X: I would really like to see home appliance manufacturers extend their products with a simple 2.n IO pin interface at the back. Absolutely minimal. For example: a kettle could have an input pin to turn it on/off and an output pin that just writes whether it is on or not. A simple 4-pin interface on the back in thi…
There is a sort of this thing for demand response - ie. the electricity company urgently needs to reduce load and are willing to pay you for it. Of course, the appliance manufacturers have to provide a way for electricity companies that use different communication protocols to have this control.
Enter AS/NZS 4755 which uses a RJ-45 connector - if you pull the DRM1 pin to ground, the device turns off.
Re: Apache PLC4X announcing end of community support due to missing funding
#37I have mixed feeling - almost all vendor-specific stuff in this space is a mess.
Definitely "yesterday's technology, tomorrow", done in a way that is often very hard to use.
This is a space that mainly wants stuff that has worked and will work for 20-30 years.
Monitoring/etc is often still an optional feature.
Re: Apache PLC4X announcing end of community support due to missing funding
#38Developments like this one and the faker.js and colors.js fiasco from last week have made me rethink my position about licensing. Now it seems to me that releasing code you wrote for free under a permissive open-source license is somewhere between ill-advised and unethical. On one hand it will not benefit you in any way, on the other, it will be incorporated in a company's proprietary project thus lowering the expens…
>code you wrote for free >for free How much open source code is actually written by hobbyists working for free? Most of the Linux code is written by paid engineers employed by big tech companies.
> How much open source code is actually written by hobbyists working for free?
Initially, almost all of it.
> Most of the Linux code is written by paid engineers employed by big tech companies.
Nowadays. It didn't start this way.
Re: Apache PLC4X announcing end of community support due to missing funding
#39Developments like this one and the faker.js and colors.js fiasco from last week have made me rethink my position about licensing. Now it seems to me that releasing code you wrote for free under a permissive open-source license is somewhere between ill-advised and unethical. On one hand it will not benefit you in any way, on the other, it will be incorporated in a company's proprietary project thus lowering the expens…
I don't see where it is not ethical. At any point you can decide to pursue or stop maintaining the code and anyone can decide to fork and take over. It is just naive to think you will always find fun in working on it or pretend you might make a living out of it unless you have a strong business plan.
> I don't see where it is not ethical.
And that's the problem.
Many people like the idea of 'helping' other people for free, even if these users never 'give something back' (because they can't program, don't have the time to translate something, ...). But helping other people (companies) make money for free that already have not only enough but way more than you, and you even do the less rewarding work like fixing bugs is not what moste people thought of when making OSS.
Re: Apache PLC4X announcing end of community support due to missing funding
#40I have observed two common reactions in companies not willing to sponsor open-source: 1. "Do you mean we will pay money to develop software for our competitors? Murder!" 2. The OSS donations are not seen as business expense but as charity. "We don't do charity." What we found effective so far is an OSS project, a consulting company and a consulting arrangement where any modifications to the core project will be upstr…
I like Debian's approach; there are volunteers and contributors paid to work on the project by external organisations. There are community based gratis support services as well as a long list of consultants around the world offering services, those range from individuals to well known open companies.