3 ms·

I feel this misses a larger point: a large chunk of valuable OSS work isn't about innovation, but about maintenance: keeping the same things working in a develo

by tremon 5y ago

I feel this misses a larger point: a large chunk of valuable OSS work isn't about innovation, but about maintenance: keeping the same things working in a developing ecosystem. As long as we keep framing all software development as "innovation", there will never be enough money for the infrastructure underpinning the real innovative work, and that both makes it appear that innovation is much more expensive than it really is, and that software development is somehow maintenance-free.

sigg3 5y ago
So true. The NTP project is symptomatic imo. So important and totally ignored until recently.
hutzlibu 5y ago
Yeah, the boring, but important work. Money would help there.
- nextos 5y ago
  Funding bodies should consider spending money on boring maintenance and reimplementation of critical infrastructure in languages safer than C (e.g. Rust, but there are other interesting alternatives). We would avoid many future fiascos.
  - ipaddr 5y ago
    Reimplementation in rust sounds like you are trying to take much needs critical infrastrcture money and spend it on a fun project with small real world benefits. Boring things like documentation and security patches would go further.
    - Jweb_Guru 5y ago
      Google disagrees. They might know something you don't.
  - lelanthran 5y ago
    > Funding bodies should consider spending money on boring maintenance and reimplementation of critical infrastructure in languages safer than C (e.g. Rust, but there are other interesting alternatives). And here's where it all breaks down - the most vocal proponents of how the money should be used would be those who want to see a particular tech stack survive/grow. The way it is right now, being far from ideal, is better than having the loudest activists picking the winners.
pbourke 5y ago
Yes. It’s past time to treat some software maintenance work as infrastructure (in the “roads and water mains” sense of the word)

by tremon 5y ago

sigg3 5y ago

So true. The NTP project is symptomatic imo. So important and totally ignored until recently.

hutzlibu 5y ago

Yeah, the boring, but important work. Money would help there.

nextos 5y ago
Funding bodies should consider spending money on boring maintenance and reimplementation of critical infrastructure in languages safer than C (e.g. Rust, but there are other interesting alternatives). We would avoid many future fiascos.
- ipaddr 5y ago
  Reimplementation in rust sounds like you are trying to take much needs critical infrastrcture money and spend it on a fun project with small real world benefits. Boring things like documentation and security patches would go further.
  - Jweb_Guru 5y ago
    Google disagrees. They might know something you don't.
- lelanthran 5y ago
  > Funding bodies should consider spending money on boring maintenance and reimplementation of critical infrastructure in languages safer than C (e.g. Rust, but there are other interesting alternatives). And here's where it all breaks down - the most vocal proponents of how the money should be used would be those who want to see a particular tech stack survive/grow. The way it is right now, being far from ideal, is better than having the loudest activists picking the winners.

pbourke 5y ago

Yes. It’s past time to treat some software maintenance work as infrastructure (in the “roads and water mains” sense of the word)