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I don't really understand why anyone would do FOSS, beyond the ideological. Most of the problems of this person come from the fact that he has no financial ince

I don't really understand why anyone would do FOSS, beyond the ideological. Most of the problems of this person come from the fact that he has no financial incentive / means to quit his current job and focus on / grow his project. I feel like I read this exact same story from different people each month of HN.

floatingatoll 7y ago
With respect to this post specifically, their reasons are clearly presented in a billeted list at the end, along with a warning that their brevity is not representative of their frequency.
hootbootscoot 7y ago
shared QA, eyeballs on code, consultancy funnel, freemium software, simple ego kicks, getting a proof-of-concept in front of a bunch of people interested in that specific sort of thing, the list goes on... FOSS, itself, is the necessary lego kit the entire web (and to a lesser extent mobile and desktop etc) rns on... are you suggesting that everyone go buy Coldfusion or ATG Dynamo? the 90's called and want their time machine back...
- hvasilev 7y ago
  Steady revenue stream, financial incentives and unlimited initial ways to monetize your venture beat your entire list, which are definitely not necessary for a successful project, given by the numerous non-FOSS successes in the real world. I honestly don't care that people work for free, it just saddens me that it takes so long for these people to realize how important financial incentives are. It is clear as day that this model rarely produces any financial results for the developer, even if people and companies are actively using and profiting from your work. That stuff seriously makes me wanna puke. The reason why it doesn't work is because it violates a very basic business principle. You don't wait for someone to "give" you money for your product, because noone is going to do that. As a manager it is incredibly painful for me to go through the entire chain of command to give you money "for maintenance". Instead you should "take" it by making me wanna buy it. The strawman part of your argument i will avoid, since it is a clear nonsensical trap.
dystroy 7y ago
> I don't really understand why anyone would do FOSS, beyond the ideological. Two big incentives that you see in most human activities: * build something for other people * try to be recognized Money is a tool to make society work, it isn't really what people live for. People inherently want to contribute to society.
samatman 7y ago
I get paid to <shrug>. When I didn't, it was a fun hobby. One that lead directly to my job, so there's another incentive for you. Enjoying oneself is also quite sufficient. There's a significant and growing free-rider problem with open source software, but your not understanding why people do FOSS is on you. It's not difficult to understand.

floatingatoll 7y ago

With respect to this post specifically, their reasons are clearly presented in a billeted list at the end, along with a warning that their brevity is not representative of their frequency.

hootbootscoot 7y ago

shared QA, eyeballs on code, consultancy funnel, freemium software, simple ego kicks, getting a proof-of-concept in front of a bunch of people interested in that specific sort of thing, the list goes on... FOSS, itself, is the necessary lego kit the entire web (and to a lesser extent mobile and desktop etc) rns on... are you suggesting that everyone go buy Coldfusion or ATG Dynamo? the 90's called and want their time machine back...

hvasilev 7y ago
Steady revenue stream, financial incentives and unlimited initial ways to monetize your venture beat your entire list, which are definitely not necessary for a successful project, given by the numerous non-FOSS successes in the real world. I honestly don't care that people work for free, it just saddens me that it takes so long for these people to realize how important financial incentives are. It is clear as day that this model rarely produces any financial results for the developer, even if people and companies are actively using and profiting from your work. That stuff seriously makes me wanna puke. The reason why it doesn't work is because it violates a very basic business principle. You don't wait for someone to "give" you money for your product, because noone is going to do that. As a manager it is incredibly painful for me to go through the entire chain of command to give you money "for maintenance". Instead you should "take" it by making me wanna buy it. The strawman part of your argument i will avoid, since it is a clear nonsensical trap.

dystroy 7y ago

> I don't really understand why anyone would do FOSS, beyond the ideological. Two big incentives that you see in most human activities: * build something for other people * try to be recognized Money is a tool to make society work, it isn't really what people live for. People inherently want to contribute to society.

samatman 7y ago

I get paid to <shrug>. When I didn't, it was a fun hobby. One that lead directly to my job, so there's another incentive for you. Enjoying oneself is also quite sufficient. There's a significant and growing free-rider problem with open source software, but your not understanding why people do FOSS is on you. It's not difficult to understand.