4 ms·

It seems to me that open source/ free software might be in its death throes. Can anyone name a recent open source library or program that is widely used and co

It seems to me that open source/ free software might be in its death throes. Can anyone name a recent open source library or program that is widely used and community controlled beside Linux? Open source now mainly serves as a way for trillion dollar companies to pool resources to develop software they all need and minimize how many developers they need to hire (see Linux). We have seen again and again how open source developers and maintainers are giving the short end of the stick and have seen over and over again companies try to have make an open source business model and fail. RedHat is basically the exception that proves the rule.

wmf 4y ago
a way for trillion dollar companies to pool resources to develop software they all need and minimize how many developers they need to hire I don't see any problem with that as long as the companies are paying the developers, which they are in most cases. Major open source like Linux and k8s haven't been developed by volunteers for decades.
stonemetal12 4y ago
If we are using Linux as a time frame reference then quite a few. PostgreSQL, Apache web server, python, and Blender are all younger than Linux.
- tannhaeuser 4y ago
  Are you sure? PostgreSQL/Postgres was started before 1986 as successor to Ingres, while Python was released in February, 1991 (vs Linux in September, 1991), based on the older educational programming language ABC. Moreover, Apache httpd was based on NCSA Mosaic released in 1993, but it isn't clear when development started.
  - stonemetal12 4y ago
    Sure, no I used Wikipedia's Initial release dates. It says Postgres 8 July 1996, Apache http server 1995, Blender January 2, 1994. I guess I miss remembered python I thought it was 93 for some reason, maybe that is java.
mrkeen 4y ago
> Can anyone name a recent open source library or program that is widely used and community controlled beside Linux? I'd answer the opposite question. What do I use in my daily work that isn't open source? Sure there's binary blobs/drivers here and there, and whatever the cloud providers are keeping to themselves. But c'mon, all the languages, the build tools, web frameworks, libraries, databases (sql and non-sql).

wmf 4y ago

a way for trillion dollar companies to pool resources to develop software they all need and minimize how many developers they need to hire I don't see any problem with that as long as the companies are paying the developers, which they are in most cases. Major open source like Linux and k8s haven't been developed by volunteers for decades.

stonemetal12 4y ago

If we are using Linux as a time frame reference then quite a few. PostgreSQL, Apache web server, python, and Blender are all younger than Linux.

tannhaeuser 4y ago
Are you sure? PostgreSQL/Postgres was started before 1986 as successor to Ingres, while Python was released in February, 1991 (vs Linux in September, 1991), based on the older educational programming language ABC. Moreover, Apache httpd was based on NCSA Mosaic released in 1993, but it isn't clear when development started.
- stonemetal12 4y ago
  Sure, no I used Wikipedia's Initial release dates. It says Postgres 8 July 1996, Apache http server 1995, Blender January 2, 1994. I guess I miss remembered python I thought it was 93 for some reason, maybe that is java.

mrkeen 4y ago

> Can anyone name a recent open source library or program that is widely used and community controlled beside Linux? I'd answer the opposite question. What do I use in my daily work that isn't open source? Sure there's binary blobs/drivers here and there, and whatever the cloud providers are keeping to themselves. But c'mon, all the languages, the build tools, web frameworks, libraries, databases (sql and non-sql).