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> those folks still may produce value to those other than themselves. They may, but my point here is that the reason a corporate SWE's code is so valuable isn'
by musingsole 6y ago
> those folks still may produce value to those other than themselves.
They may, but my point here is that the reason a corporate SWE's code is so valuable isn't because of the code itself. It's because of the ecosystem that the SWE and corp are a part of. That ecosystem serves to multiply a meaningless block of code into a couple million dollars that can be split nicely with all the non-coders who made it useful. Without that ecosystem, an open source project can never hope to monetize to the same level. That big open source projects have substantial funding is an effect of being so imminently usable in those million dollar ecosystems that the forgotten scraps of the corporations are enough to sustain them.
- aspenmayer 6y agoI generally agree with your interpretation, but I don’t see what you’re advocating for. What do you think are the flaws/benefits of big open source projects receiving the lion’s share of open source donations? What funding model makes sense for those smaller projects? For many groups doing fundraising, the work of doing the fundraising itself is extremely labor and time intensive compared to the actual work the group does. Fundraising costs incentivize projects to become bigger and higher-profile to enhance their fundraising ability, but this increase in size and reach may not be helpful to all projects in all ways equally. More bugs may be squashed from more eyes; more cooks in the kitchen may make for lower quality standards of releases. It’s all a double-edged sword. I’m curious about your thoughts on this conundrum.