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Fair enough, but should $500k coming from a $10M ARR business be received with the same applause as $500k coming from a >$1B ARR business? Both are valid opini

Fair enough, but should $500k coming from a $10M ARR business be received with the same applause as $500k coming from a >$1B ARR business? Both are valid opinions, I think, but personally I tend to be more impressed by the smaller business. At any rate, as I said, it’s a great start.

markphip 4y ago
Is there even one $10M ARR business that has donated $500K even one time? Maybe I am just missing this as these companies do not get the attention of GitHub but I have been involved in open source for 20+ years now and I have little memory of any companies that are donating. The only contributions I tend to see is the companies that have FTE to work on some of the open source projects that matter to that company. What about all of the banks, oil, retail etc. with enormous ARR? Every company relies on open source. Most do not contribute money or people to the effort. We ought to be celebrating and encouraging more of this.
- hellerve 4y ago
  > Is there even one $10M ARR business that has donated $500K even one time? I don’t have exact figures for most of these companies, of course, but I have seen many small consulting or teaching businesses contribute a lot of money to OSS (here’s one such example, I don’t know the company, just a quick look on Open Collective: https://opencollective.com/frontendmasters https://opencollective.com/frontendmasters). That’s because they rely on the success of those software systems to continue making money, of course, but I don’t think that’s any less true for the big payers. > What about all of the banks, oil, retail etc. with enormous ARR? I in no way meant to single out GitHub or insinuate that what they were doing was bad, that’s why I tried to end on a high note (to emphasize yet again: _it’s a great start_). What I’m trying to say is that I hope it doesn’t stop there, for GitHub or anyone else. The incentive to do it is higher when there’s good PR coming out of it, and that is mostly true the first time around. I’m hoping that there are more incentives at play than just PR (genuinely, not in a “but I don’t think so” way).
  - 0des 4y ago
    Stop looking a gift horse in the mouth.
    - jcouball 4y ago
      I had a friend who always misquoted that as “don’t kick a gift horse in the mouth.” That seems more appropriate for this thread.
      - 0des 4y ago
        The term originates from the concept of receiving a free horse and having the audacity to check its teeth so as to judge the quality and value of the gift as that was the means at the time of judging a horse's age, longevity and health.
joshmanders 4y ago
$500k donated by any business is a lot and should be praised and encourage others. They don't HAVE to do anything, but they are taking the initiative to help out. Can't say the same about other companies.
jrochkind1 4y ago
What is the $10M ARR business that has donated $500K to open source? I will do my best to give them even more applause.
- hellerve 4y ago
  You might want to check out the sibling thread.
  - jrochkind1 4y ago
    It isn't leading to me any other business donating $500K to open source yet, 10MM ARR or otherwise.

markphip 4y ago

Is there even one $10M ARR business that has donated $500K even one time? Maybe I am just missing this as these companies do not get the attention of GitHub but I have been involved in open source for 20+ years now and I have little memory of any companies that are donating. The only contributions I tend to see is the companies that have FTE to work on some of the open source projects that matter to that company. What about all of the banks, oil, retail etc. with enormous ARR? Every company relies on open source. Most do not contribute money or people to the effort. We ought to be celebrating and encouraging more of this.

hellerve 4y ago
> Is there even one $10M ARR business that has donated $500K even one time? I don’t have exact figures for most of these companies, of course, but I have seen many small consulting or teaching businesses contribute a lot of money to OSS (here’s one such example, I don’t know the company, just a quick look on Open Collective: https://opencollective.com/frontendmasters https://opencollective.com/frontendmasters). That’s because they rely on the success of those software systems to continue making money, of course, but I don’t think that’s any less true for the big payers. > What about all of the banks, oil, retail etc. with enormous ARR? I in no way meant to single out GitHub or insinuate that what they were doing was bad, that’s why I tried to end on a high note (to emphasize yet again: _it’s a great start_). What I’m trying to say is that I hope it doesn’t stop there, for GitHub or anyone else. The incentive to do it is higher when there’s good PR coming out of it, and that is mostly true the first time around. I’m hoping that there are more incentives at play than just PR (genuinely, not in a “but I don’t think so” way).
- 0des 4y ago
  Stop looking a gift horse in the mouth.
  - jcouball 4y ago
    I had a friend who always misquoted that as “don’t kick a gift horse in the mouth.” That seems more appropriate for this thread.
    - 0des 4y ago
      The term originates from the concept of receiving a free horse and having the audacity to check its teeth so as to judge the quality and value of the gift as that was the means at the time of judging a horse's age, longevity and health.

joshmanders 4y ago

$500k donated by any business is a lot and should be praised and encourage others. They don't HAVE to do anything, but they are taking the initiative to help out. Can't say the same about other companies.

jrochkind1 4y ago

What is the $10M ARR business that has donated $500K to open source? I will do my best to give them even more applause.

hellerve 4y ago
You might want to check out the sibling thread.
- jrochkind1 4y ago
  It isn't leading to me any other business donating $500K to open source yet, 10MM ARR or otherwise.