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Right, so this is why I keep harking on the fact that we need a non-billionaires OS license. People will say "oh, no, that's not real open source" but it sure i

Right, so this is why I keep harking on the fact that we need a non-billionaires OS license. People will say "oh, no, that's not real open source" but it sure is as open as their chequebook. I'm hand waving a bit here, but if you have a stakeholder that's worth a billion dollars you can pay a $1m per year for the OSS library you use. When I write open source software I'm not doing it for Bezos. I'm doing it for Heather down the street who is trying to get a cool little project off the ground and maybe pay some bills. I'm even writing it for Frank who runs a modest 20 person dev shop and maybe contributes back a bit here or there where they find the warts. I'm not building it for the psychos that have lost all touch with humanity.

jrockway 4y ago
That makes a lot of sense to me. I don't know if I do open source even for Heather down the street, I mostly do it for myself. "I made a thing, come look." "Come look" is not really an invitation for "we looked and we took it and can you do all these things for me for free". It's really a tradeoff between ego/reputation and time. It's possible that people can ask you for more of your time than you get returned in reputation. (Ask any artist who has made something "for the exposure." People will do it! But they'd rather be getting paid.)
- MonkeyMalarky 4y ago
  Art is a great analogy here because you don't get to have a say in the process when an artist is doing it for themselves. You can look and critique, but you don't get to have control. If you want that, you're welcome to commission a piece and pay for it.
- franciscop 4y ago
  I just consider future me as just another developer, and it's way too often that I've had to read my own docs to see how I was supposed to do something and thanked past me. I do have a preference of who uses my software, but in no way encode it since I believe it's just no realistic: future me > other OSS devs > indie devs > general devs > small companies > large companies.

jrockway 4y ago

That makes a lot of sense to me. I don't know if I do open source even for Heather down the street, I mostly do it for myself. "I made a thing, come look." "Come look" is not really an invitation for "we looked and we took it and can you do all these things for me for free". It's really a tradeoff between ego/reputation and time. It's possible that people can ask you for more of your time than you get returned in reputation. (Ask any artist who has made something "for the exposure." People will do it! But they'd rather be getting paid.)

MonkeyMalarky 4y ago
Art is a great analogy here because you don't get to have a say in the process when an artist is doing it for themselves. You can look and critique, but you don't get to have control. If you want that, you're welcome to commission a piece and pay for it.
franciscop 4y ago
I just consider future me as just another developer, and it's way too often that I've had to read my own docs to see how I was supposed to do something and thanked past me. I do have a preference of who uses my software, but in no way encode it since I believe it's just no realistic: future me > other OSS devs > indie devs > general devs > small companies > large companies.