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I feel as if engineers at firms that build systems that use open source libraries should campaign internally to create budget line items for paying non-trivial
by bhauer 5y ago
I feel as if engineers at firms that build systems that use open source libraries should campaign internally to create budget line items for paying non-trivial amounts to the maintainers of those libraries.
I find it difficult to blame developers individually. Individuals working at these companies aren't going to see it as their role to send some of their own after-tax income to maintainers via GitHub Sponsors unless they are unusually charitable. But I could definitely see my company sending thousands out the door (pre-tax) every year to the maintainers of the libraries we depend on.
For example, imagine your team is 15 people. Have the company budget for and send an additional one developer's worth of salary out annually to the open source maintainers, divided among the libraries in a proportion agreed to by the development team. Yes, it's an additional cost line item, but it's the right thing to do and it won't break the bank.
Open source has reduced costs dramatically for all of us who use it in our dependencies list. A nominal cost line item on our annual budgets is more than fair.
- DarylZero 5y agoThis makes more sense than blaming the developers. But ultimately the problem is the same: engineers, i.e. employees, don't control the money. They don't have agency to direct the money toward functions other than enriching the people who have the money. They may have more agency relatively speaking than free software developers, but on an absolute scale, you can measure this kind of agency in dollars, and it's a pittance. Maybe they could donate some of their own salaries. Maybe they could get employer matching. Still doesn't seem realistic, but it's closer.
- mbrodersen 5y agoWhy should they? Open Source developers give away their work with a price tag of $0. So why should anybody pay more than $0 for it? Do you pay more than the asking price for things you buy?
- emptyparadise 5y agoIt's morally right. Not everything in the world is a business transaction.
- mbrodersen 5y agoI agree that not everything in the world is a business transaction. What does that have to do with getting paid for doing OSS?