4 ms·

This guy is Buterin 30 years from now. Open Source won't ever make the inventor (and those who blindly follow him) rich in the long term. There is an initial w

This guy is Buterin 30 years from now. Open Source won't ever make the inventor (and those who blindly follow him) rich in the long term. There is an initial wave of enthusiasm which provides a time window to unload the bags though.

zabzonk 5y ago
> Open Source won't ever make the inventor (and those who blindly follow him) rich in the long term Torvalds seems to have done OK for himself, for reasonable values of "rich". And who the heck do you think is "blindly following him"?
- blippage 5y ago
  > Torvalds seems to have done OK for himself, for reasonable values of "rich". My guess: VHNWI (very high net worth individual), defined by Investopedia https://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/hnwi.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/hnwi.asp as the range $5m to $30m. Maybe he's even in the ultra HNWI range. He doesn't "look" rich, but then, what does rich look like anyway?
  - zabzonk 5y ago
    I think a reasonable value for "rich" is having a good roof over your head, enough money to comfortably support you and your family for the foreseeable future, and to be doing something you really enjoy.
    - _nalply 5y ago
      I wish more people would understand this. Even if your neighbor has a bigger private jet than you there's no need to escalate.
  - philzook 5y ago
    https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/linus-torvalds-net-worth/#:~:text=Linus%20Torvalds%20Net%20Worth%20and,net%20worth%20of%20%2450%20million https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/linus-.... Linus is doing fine.
- ObserverNeutral 5y ago
  Compare him against Bill Gates and Larry Page. Also when I said blindly follow the Open Source project leader I was referring to Buterin and Nakamoto
Bancakes 5y ago
Why do successful people always have to be rich? That's such a toxic silicon valley expectation.
- ObserverNeutral 5y ago
  Because it's not like you write songs which make people dream and fill a stadium to come and hear you play them Nor you are acting in movies which again make people dream and embrace you as part of their life. You are writing freaking code, if you don't get the money, all you are left with is the tepid admiration of nerds around the world...can't imagine anybody desiring that. If Linus were to create a startup tomorrow it's not like people would waive their salary for the opportunity to work for the great man. To summarize if you don't get money you are left with absolutely nothing in hand.
  - robotbikes 5y ago
    This maybe true for you but I know that I get a sense of satisfaction from releasing free software and knowing that people around the world are benefitting from it. Not everyone seems financial riches as the end goal of their efforts. Most musicians don't get boatloads of cash or to perform in stadiums but instead the appreciation of a handful of people who enjoy their music. It does depend on your motivation for writing the code as well. If you are coding to solve someone else's problem and feel no benefit from it then indeed money is typically expected.
    - ObserverNeutral 5y ago
      > Most musicians don't get boatloads of cash or to perform in stadiums but instead the appreciation of a handful of people who enjoy their music. I think there is a whole world of difference between 60,000 people singing along to something you wrote and having 6,000,000 visits to your Github folder. Unless you are a robot the 2 feel and therefore are completely different feelings. Matter of fact the first is a feeling, the second is an acknowledgement that your code works fine. Businessmen seek to add monetary compensation to the aforementioned acknowledgement , because they know that the sole acknowledgement is not enough to propel future goals they might have.....including playing music in a stadium such as the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen did, or hosting a music festival such as Steve Wozniak US festival
smoldesu 5y ago
Nobody distributes free software to be rich. Not sure where you're grabbing all this from...
- Koshkin 5y ago
  Not sure if this is true in general: many paid-for software products have free versions; free games might offer in-game purchases, etc.
  - bonzini 5y ago
    That's not what the parent comment meant by free software (i.e. they meant freedom, not price).
cassepipe 5y ago
> First off, I'm doing quite well. I'm not insanely rich, but I'm a well-paid software engineer, doing what I like to do, on my own schedule. I'm not hurting.

zabzonk 5y ago

> Open Source won't ever make the inventor (and those who blindly follow him) rich in the long term Torvalds seems to have done OK for himself, for reasonable values of "rich". And who the heck do you think is "blindly following him"?

blippage 5y ago
> Torvalds seems to have done OK for himself, for reasonable values of "rich". My guess: VHNWI (very high net worth individual), defined by Investopedia https://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/hnwi.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/hnwi.asp as the range $5m to $30m. Maybe he's even in the ultra HNWI range. He doesn't "look" rich, but then, what does rich look like anyway?
- zabzonk 5y ago
  I think a reasonable value for "rich" is having a good roof over your head, enough money to comfortably support you and your family for the foreseeable future, and to be doing something you really enjoy.
  - _nalply 5y ago
    I wish more people would understand this. Even if your neighbor has a bigger private jet than you there's no need to escalate.
- philzook 5y ago
  https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/linus-torvalds-net-worth/#:~:text=Linus%20Torvalds%20Net%20Worth%20and,net%20worth%20of%20%2450%20million https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/linus-.... Linus is doing fine.
ObserverNeutral 5y ago
Compare him against Bill Gates and Larry Page. Also when I said blindly follow the Open Source project leader I was referring to Buterin and Nakamoto

Bancakes 5y ago

Why do successful people always have to be rich? That's such a toxic silicon valley expectation.

ObserverNeutral 5y ago
Because it's not like you write songs which make people dream and fill a stadium to come and hear you play them Nor you are acting in movies which again make people dream and embrace you as part of their life. You are writing freaking code, if you don't get the money, all you are left with is the tepid admiration of nerds around the world...can't imagine anybody desiring that. If Linus were to create a startup tomorrow it's not like people would waive their salary for the opportunity to work for the great man. To summarize if you don't get money you are left with absolutely nothing in hand.
- robotbikes 5y ago
  This maybe true for you but I know that I get a sense of satisfaction from releasing free software and knowing that people around the world are benefitting from it. Not everyone seems financial riches as the end goal of their efforts. Most musicians don't get boatloads of cash or to perform in stadiums but instead the appreciation of a handful of people who enjoy their music. It does depend on your motivation for writing the code as well. If you are coding to solve someone else's problem and feel no benefit from it then indeed money is typically expected.
  - ObserverNeutral 5y ago
    > Most musicians don't get boatloads of cash or to perform in stadiums but instead the appreciation of a handful of people who enjoy their music. I think there is a whole world of difference between 60,000 people singing along to something you wrote and having 6,000,000 visits to your Github folder. Unless you are a robot the 2 feel and therefore are completely different feelings. Matter of fact the first is a feeling, the second is an acknowledgement that your code works fine. Businessmen seek to add monetary compensation to the aforementioned acknowledgement , because they know that the sole acknowledgement is not enough to propel future goals they might have.....including playing music in a stadium such as the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen did, or hosting a music festival such as Steve Wozniak US festival

smoldesu 5y ago

Nobody distributes free software to be rich. Not sure where you're grabbing all this from...

Koshkin 5y ago
Not sure if this is true in general: many paid-for software products have free versions; free games might offer in-game purchases, etc.
- bonzini 5y ago
  That's not what the parent comment meant by free software (i.e. they meant freedom, not price).

cassepipe 5y ago

> First off, I'm doing quite well. I'm not insanely rich, but I'm a well-paid software engineer, doing what I like to do, on my own schedule. I'm not hurting.