4 ms·

I feel the incentive for free software / open source has changed. The >2000 explanation of why people code for free is basically "they hope to get hired due to

I feel the incentive for free software / open source has changed. The >2000 explanation of why people code for free is basically "they hope to get hired due to their work". Maybe I was too naiv back in the 90s, but it didnt feel like it back then. And it is still not the truth for me personally. I publish code for free because I want to share with ohers. Yes, I've been invited to a conference or two due to what I wrote, but that was never the goal, and would have been far too little as a compensation for my time. Granted, I am not a major contributor, so I should probably keep my mouth shut. However, I feel like the incentive these days has been poisoned by capitalism.

JoeAltmaier 5y ago
Perhaps "the incentive" depends upon the individual. It's like folks saying "in the '60s everybody..." where they're describing what they did or somebody they knew did.
- ghaff 5y ago
  Yeah, in general, unless you're in the position of having a trust fund/investments that mean you don't need to work for a living, if you're going to be spending 40 hours a week on something, you probably want to get paid for it. Some people do have compulsive hobbies but that's mostly not sustainable. Of course, casual nights and weekend activities can certainly work as unpaid hobbies and they may even be intensive hobbies for a time. But the reality before people got as widely paid for writing open source code is fewer people spent a lot less time doing it.