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Large scale FOSS success is dependant on fiscal surplus from non-FOSS ventures and the ability of the US empire to globally enforce related legal aspects (licen

Large scale FOSS success is dependant on fiscal surplus from non-FOSS ventures and the ability of the US empire to globally enforce related legal aspects (licensing). The article correctly states that the former is diminishing. Like it or not, so is the latter.

culi 4y ago
large scale FOSS came first and I think it's a rather recent phenomenon that people are getting serious about fairly compensating the work of OSS maintainers that multi-[mb]illion dollar companies are based on does anybody remember the original online Flash games? Newgrounds and Kongregate and all that? It was mostly people with hobbies. Passion projects. Rarely did the creators make any money off them even when their games got played by millions. When in-app purchases became a thing I saw a lot of these original flash games turn into mobile games with added in-app purchases littered throughout. Nowadays if you visit Miniclip or Kongregate and play a more recent game, you'll find the same. Either tons of ads or tons of in-app purchases I think there's a strong cultural effect there once money is mixed in. Once upon a time online drug forums were filled with people sharing their "TEKs" about growing weed plants and freely trading seeds of certain varieties. Now in the aftermath of legalization you'll hardly ever find this type of stuff for free. I think the shrooms community is in a similar place as well. OSS is now fueling multibillion dollar companies and maintainers are starting to demand compensation. Many will still contribute for "free" because it looks good on a resume, but I really think we're gonna see a strong decline simply due to the cultural impact of the transformation of Social Capital to financial capital If you wanna get anthropological about this, I HIGHLY recommend this book[^0] about the social capital that fueled the social capital system that underpinned the system of traditional craftsmanship of Cairo, Egypt and the World Bank's attempt to "capture" that value as a market (and the lasting impacts its had) [^0]: Markets of Dispossession: NGOs, Economic Development, and the State in Cairo
- culi 4y ago
  To be clear, I definitely think OSS maintainers deserve to have the financial stability necessary to produce their work
- arexxbifs 4y ago
  I don't think we really disagree, but I might be mistaken. > large scale FOSS came first FOSS, let alone large scale FOSS, appeared well into a long period of western imperial surplus and cheap fuel, in a unipolar world where the US had unique capabilities of projecting power. > hobbies. Passion projects. (...) maintainers are starting to demand compensation (...) the transformation of Social Capital to financial capital Precisely. When times are good, people will indulge in activities like that because incentives align differently. Maintaining enterprise-grade software for free in a contracting economy, on the other hand, will probably not be as tempting. Pay the rent or push upstream?

culi 4y ago

large scale FOSS came first and I think it's a rather recent phenomenon that people are getting serious about fairly compensating the work of OSS maintainers that multi-[mb]illion dollar companies are based on does anybody remember the original online Flash games? Newgrounds and Kongregate and all that? It was mostly people with hobbies. Passion projects. Rarely did the creators make any money off them even when their games got played by millions. When in-app purchases became a thing I saw a lot of these original flash games turn into mobile games with added in-app purchases littered throughout. Nowadays if you visit Miniclip or Kongregate and play a more recent game, you'll find the same. Either tons of ads or tons of in-app purchases I think there's a strong cultural effect there once money is mixed in. Once upon a time online drug forums were filled with people sharing their "TEKs" about growing weed plants and freely trading seeds of certain varieties. Now in the aftermath of legalization you'll hardly ever find this type of stuff for free. I think the shrooms community is in a similar place as well. OSS is now fueling multibillion dollar companies and maintainers are starting to demand compensation. Many will still contribute for "free" because it looks good on a resume, but I really think we're gonna see a strong decline simply due to the cultural impact of the transformation of Social Capital to financial capital If you wanna get anthropological about this, I HIGHLY recommend this book[^0] about the social capital that fueled the social capital system that underpinned the system of traditional craftsmanship of Cairo, Egypt and the World Bank's attempt to "capture" that value as a market (and the lasting impacts its had) [^0]: Markets of Dispossession: NGOs, Economic Development, and the State in Cairo

culi 4y ago
To be clear, I definitely think OSS maintainers deserve to have the financial stability necessary to produce their work
arexxbifs 4y ago
I don't think we really disagree, but I might be mistaken. > large scale FOSS came first FOSS, let alone large scale FOSS, appeared well into a long period of western imperial surplus and cheap fuel, in a unipolar world where the US had unique capabilities of projecting power. > hobbies. Passion projects. (...) maintainers are starting to demand compensation (...) the transformation of Social Capital to financial capital Precisely. When times are good, people will indulge in activities like that because incentives align differently. Maintaining enterprise-grade software for free in a contracting economy, on the other hand, will probably not be as tempting. Pay the rent or push upstream?