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Don't worry, I think I understood what you meant. I was just offering a possible explanation of why some startups might be better positioned to contribute late
by cperciva 10y ago
Don't worry, I think I understood what you meant. I was just offering a possible explanation of why some startups might be better positioned to contribute later rather than right now.
For example, I don't think I saw any code contributions from WhatsApp to FreeBSD, and I know Tarsnap donated more to the FreeBSD Foundation than WhatsApp did pre-acquisition -- but when they were acquired and Jan Koum suddenly had money available, he made the largest donation the Foundation ever received.
So, if you can contribute now, great; if not, well, keep doing what you're doing, and if you're lucky enough to have a big exit hopefully you'll remember us at that point.
- lifeisstillgood 10y agoI'm glad to hear about the BSD donation. And, I guess the status quo is ok, it's just we live in societies built off investments in open science and open standards and yet we privatise the value this created as if the prior foundations were just a natural phenomenon <lament over>
- cperciva 10y agoThis is approaching the crux of the GPL vs BSD philosophical divide, actually. Some people say "you used my work and made money from it? You should share", while others (myself included) say "you used my work and made money from it? Awesome, great to know that you managed to make something people wanted out of it".