4 ms·

Most people who write OSS do it as employees for companies for whom OSS is a strategic asset.

pabs3 6y ago
This kind of situation is not evenly distributed. For example the Linux kernel is mostly like this, but lots of other things are not like this.
pankajdoharey 6y ago
I would say a lot of people yes but "Most" may not be accurate clearly there are more projects on github than there are companies which are funding OSS projects.
- boogies 6y ago
  Are you implying that one company can't fund more than one project?
  - pankajdoharey 6y ago
    Nope even if one company funds 100 projects each we will still run out of companies that fund OSS projects, there are many more individual efforts some of them patreon funded but not all. And people have been writing OSS since 70's with or without funding.
- michaelt 6y ago
  The results here are going to depend on if someone spending 1 hour a month on a project with 1 user, and someone spending 40 hours a week on a project with 10,000,000 users both count as 1 OSS developer.
  - pankajdoharey 6y ago
    True but I was referring to the ones who are not corporate funded but spent 20 Hours or so on OSS, all large OSS projects were dedicated personal projects for many yrs with a lot of users the funding may or may not be there, Before Industry realised Linux kernel is a strategic asset people were contributing patches and many many hours without funding.
Milank 6y ago
We are talking about OSS projects that "need to pay the rent". OSS projects that are created by companies as a strategic move are something completely different.
kerkeslager 6y ago
[citation needed] This isn't my experience--I've worked with hundreds of developers who do open source, and only a handful were paid in any way. I don't exactly look deeply into the finances of every open source project, but my own open source projects, I've paid to run. Now, I'm aware that my experience is anecdotal, so I'm not going to confidently say that you're wrong, but I'll say that the best evidence I have (which isn't very good) doesn't match your claim. If you want to persuade me, you'll have to provide better evidence than what I already have.
rikroots 6y ago
Do they? I don't. In fact when I was last employed (I'm now freelance, or at least trying to be freelance) I very much did not work on my OSS project, or use it in client work, because while I had verbal assurances that the company would not assert their rights, the contract I signed included an IP clause that was a little too broad for my liking. As to the OP, It would be nice if I could figure out a way to make my OSS project earn enough to cover my rent. I would be really happy if I could get it to pay its own rent - hosting the project's home page is not $free. (Obligatory spam of the project's home URL: https://scrawl-v8.rikweb.org.uk/ https://scrawl-v8.rikweb.org.uk/ )
- wtracy 6y ago
  Not that this addresses your core complaints, but both GitHub and GitLab offer free website hosting through the Pages feature.
wtracy 6y ago
Most projects that get serious traction are written by employees of companies who treat OSS as a strategic asset. That doesn't say anything about the number of people who write OSS.
clueless123 6y ago
In my experience this is not 100% true. Many times you get involved on OSS to "scratch your own itch" be it a personal project from scratch or collaborating on somebody else OSS project by fixing/adding something that irks/needs you specifically.

This kind of situation is not evenly distributed. For example the Linux kernel is mostly like this, but lots of other things are not like this.

pankajdoharey 6y ago

I would say a lot of people yes but "Most" may not be accurate clearly there are more projects on github than there are companies which are funding OSS projects.

boogies 6y ago
Are you implying that one company can't fund more than one project?
- pankajdoharey 6y ago
  Nope even if one company funds 100 projects each we will still run out of companies that fund OSS projects, there are many more individual efforts some of them patreon funded but not all. And people have been writing OSS since 70's with or without funding.
michaelt 6y ago
The results here are going to depend on if someone spending 1 hour a month on a project with 1 user, and someone spending 40 hours a week on a project with 10,000,000 users both count as 1 OSS developer.
- pankajdoharey 6y ago
  True but I was referring to the ones who are not corporate funded but spent 20 Hours or so on OSS, all large OSS projects were dedicated personal projects for many yrs with a lot of users the funding may or may not be there, Before Industry realised Linux kernel is a strategic asset people were contributing patches and many many hours without funding.

Milank 6y ago

We are talking about OSS projects that "need to pay the rent". OSS projects that are created by companies as a strategic move are something completely different.

kerkeslager 6y ago

[citation needed] This isn't my experience--I've worked with hundreds of developers who do open source, and only a handful were paid in any way. I don't exactly look deeply into the finances of every open source project, but my own open source projects, I've paid to run. Now, I'm aware that my experience is anecdotal, so I'm not going to confidently say that you're wrong, but I'll say that the best evidence I have (which isn't very good) doesn't match your claim. If you want to persuade me, you'll have to provide better evidence than what I already have.

rikroots 6y ago

Do they? I don't. In fact when I was last employed (I'm now freelance, or at least trying to be freelance) I very much did not work on my OSS project, or use it in client work, because while I had verbal assurances that the company would not assert their rights, the contract I signed included an IP clause that was a little too broad for my liking. As to the OP, It would be nice if I could figure out a way to make my OSS project earn enough to cover my rent. I would be really happy if I could get it to pay its own rent - hosting the project's home page is not $free. (Obligatory spam of the project's home URL: https://scrawl-v8.rikweb.org.uk/ https://scrawl-v8.rikweb.org.uk/ )

wtracy 6y ago
Not that this addresses your core complaints, but both GitHub and GitLab offer free website hosting through the Pages feature.

wtracy 6y ago

Most projects that get serious traction are written by employees of companies who treat OSS as a strategic asset. That doesn't say anything about the number of people who write OSS.

clueless123 6y ago

In my experience this is not 100% true. Many times you get involved on OSS to "scratch your own itch" be it a personal project from scratch or collaborating on somebody else OSS project by fixing/adding something that irks/needs you specifically.