3 ms·

How much better the world would be if open source was fully funded by some of those tech billionaires whose fortunes were made by sitting on its shoulders.

brodouevencode 6y ago
And the news outlets that give them lip service.
- DesiLurker 6y ago
  or rather the organization(s) benefiting from OSS and the ad-revenue that formerly used to belong to the news organizations.
techwizrd 6y ago
I agree. I would love to see more things like Summer of Code or grants towards open-source software. Is there a sustainable way to fund open-source work apart from corporate benefactors who "own" the software?
- pabs3 6y ago
  There are lots of internship, grants, bounty and patronage programs for open source, check out the FOSSjobs resources wiki page: https://github.com/fossjobs/fossjobs/wiki/Resources https://github.com/fossjobs/fossjobs/wiki/Resources
- marcandre 6y ago
  The three main players imo are Github Sponsors, Tidelift and Open Collective.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
noahtallen 6y ago
That’d be awesome! Should note that a lot of popular software is (at least in part) paid for by the large companies. For example, Google probably has several engineers working on chromium. Facebook has several working on React and React Native. Apple has several working on Swift. Automattic (where I work), has several working on WordPress.
Kinrany 6y ago
How much would it cost to fund, say, all Github projects with 1000 stars or more?
- me_again 6y ago
  Not much... until you get rings of fake accounts going around giving stars to each others' projects. Think Hacktoberfest but 1000x worse
raxxorrax 6y ago
I would prefer crowd funding because with corporate sponsorships often come subtle obligations for corporate friendly adaptations and sometimes weird expectations. https://www.business.com/articles/john-rampton-open-source-software-risks/ https://www.business.com/articles/john-rampton-open-source-s... While there is some truth to it and describes what you should be careful about, it fundamentally doesn't understand the different motivations behind open source. Creators know that individual users can also create horrible expectations not restricted to software development, but you aren't suddenly half dependent on a company in which there is probably one guy calling the shots about your project and maybe it is better not to marry him.
okareaman 6y ago
I said essentially the same thing 10 days ago and this is what Walter Bright, creator of D, said: "There are a number of generous corporations and individuals helping us out in various ways, including cash contributions to the D Foundation." https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25040397 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25040397

brodouevencode 6y ago

And the news outlets that give them lip service.

DesiLurker 6y ago
or rather the organization(s) benefiting from OSS and the ad-revenue that formerly used to belong to the news organizations.

techwizrd 6y ago

I agree. I would love to see more things like Summer of Code or grants towards open-source software. Is there a sustainable way to fund open-source work apart from corporate benefactors who "own" the software?

pabs3 6y ago
There are lots of internship, grants, bounty and patronage programs for open source, check out the FOSSjobs resources wiki page: https://github.com/fossjobs/fossjobs/wiki/Resources https://github.com/fossjobs/fossjobs/wiki/Resources
marcandre 6y ago
The three main players imo are Github Sponsors, Tidelift and Open Collective.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

noahtallen 6y ago

That’d be awesome! Should note that a lot of popular software is (at least in part) paid for by the large companies. For example, Google probably has several engineers working on chromium. Facebook has several working on React and React Native. Apple has several working on Swift. Automattic (where I work), has several working on WordPress.

Kinrany 6y ago

How much would it cost to fund, say, all Github projects with 1000 stars or more?

me_again 6y ago
Not much... until you get rings of fake accounts going around giving stars to each others' projects. Think Hacktoberfest but 1000x worse

raxxorrax 6y ago

I would prefer crowd funding because with corporate sponsorships often come subtle obligations for corporate friendly adaptations and sometimes weird expectations. https://www.business.com/articles/john-rampton-open-source-software-risks/ https://www.business.com/articles/john-rampton-open-source-s... While there is some truth to it and describes what you should be careful about, it fundamentally doesn't understand the different motivations behind open source. Creators know that individual users can also create horrible expectations not restricted to software development, but you aren't suddenly half dependent on a company in which there is probably one guy calling the shots about your project and maybe it is better not to marry him.

okareaman 6y ago

I said essentially the same thing 10 days ago and this is what Walter Bright, creator of D, said: "There are a number of generous corporations and individuals helping us out in various ways, including cash contributions to the D Foundation." https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25040397 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25040397