4 ms·

I keep hearing this narrative about "We need to help open source developers" but it feels as empty as the narrative around gender and race diversity in corporat

I keep hearing this narrative about "We need to help open source developers" but it feels as empty as the narrative around gender and race diversity in corporate environments. People within big corporations talk about the problem as a substitute for actually solving it. They could easily solve it. It would cost them very little. They just don't want to solve it. Big corporate directors hate open source developers. They think we're all a bunch of communists. They don't want to incentivize value creation via open source. Instead of trying to figure out how to leverage network effects to capture some value from open source and help grow innovative ecosystems, they'd rather smother innovation and incentivize cronyism, dirty politics and bureaucracy instead.

bruce511 5y ago
Big corporate doesn't hate open source. That's a myth OSS promotes because it suits the narrative of being an underdog. Mostly big corporate (ie the whole world outside IT) has no idea what a software license is - if you polled all the workers at Wallmart they'd look at you blankly - and I'm talking management here... 99% of companies don't pay for their OSS because its free. Companies don't make donations to suppliers. They pay the sticker price and move on. Wanna give it to me for free? Great. Wanna charge me for it? Great. But give it to me for free, then expect me to suddenly start donating? How am I supposed to explain that to the board and shareholders? If you want companies to pay for your work, slap a price tag on it. If you want to give it away for free then do that. But don't expect companies to create a new funding model for you - that's not their business.
- cryptica 5y ago
  > If you want companies to pay for your work, slap a price tag on it. Without VC funding and personal connections to insiders, no corporation will ever work with you no matter how good your product is and no matter what the price tag is. Open source used to be one of the very few ways to get a foot in the door if you didn't have personal connections to insiders. Doesn't work anymore. It's a red mark. They severed the last remaining meritocratic mechanism for earning money in the tech sector... Now the only way to get money is through prostitution or fraud.
  - bruce511 5y ago
    >> Without VC funding and personal connections to insiders, no corporation will ever work with you no matter how good your product is and no matter what the price tag is. That may be your experience, but it's not mine. Then again I said "companies" and you are referring to "corporations". I am selling to lots and lots of companies. I'm also no longer a one-man-band - the larger the company the more they care about a lot more than just this moment - they want some assurance about support etc. Open source used to be one of the very few ways to get a foot in the door if you didn't have personal connections to insiders. Doesn't work anymore. It's a red mark. They severed the last remaining meritocratic mechanism for earning money in the tech sector... Now the only way to get money is through prostitution or fraud.

bruce511 5y ago

Big corporate doesn't hate open source. That's a myth OSS promotes because it suits the narrative of being an underdog. Mostly big corporate (ie the whole world outside IT) has no idea what a software license is - if you polled all the workers at Wallmart they'd look at you blankly - and I'm talking management here... 99% of companies don't pay for their OSS because its free. Companies don't make donations to suppliers. They pay the sticker price and move on. Wanna give it to me for free? Great. Wanna charge me for it? Great. But give it to me for free, then expect me to suddenly start donating? How am I supposed to explain that to the board and shareholders? If you want companies to pay for your work, slap a price tag on it. If you want to give it away for free then do that. But don't expect companies to create a new funding model for you - that's not their business.

cryptica 5y ago
> If you want companies to pay for your work, slap a price tag on it. Without VC funding and personal connections to insiders, no corporation will ever work with you no matter how good your product is and no matter what the price tag is. Open source used to be one of the very few ways to get a foot in the door if you didn't have personal connections to insiders. Doesn't work anymore. It's a red mark. They severed the last remaining meritocratic mechanism for earning money in the tech sector... Now the only way to get money is through prostitution or fraud.
- bruce511 5y ago
  >> Without VC funding and personal connections to insiders, no corporation will ever work with you no matter how good your product is and no matter what the price tag is. That may be your experience, but it's not mine. Then again I said "companies" and you are referring to "corporations". I am selling to lots and lots of companies. I'm also no longer a one-man-band - the larger the company the more they care about a lot more than just this moment - they want some assurance about support etc. Open source used to be one of the very few ways to get a foot in the door if you didn't have personal connections to insiders. Doesn't work anymore. It's a red mark. They severed the last remaining meritocratic mechanism for earning money in the tech sector... Now the only way to get money is through prostitution or fraud.