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Isn’t this just what free open-source software does already?
by syndicatedjelly 3y ago
Isn’t this just what free open-source software does already?
- Towaway69 3y agoFree open source software does not necessarily solve real world problems, it solves someones problem but not necessarily the problem at hand.
- schwartzworld 3y agoAnd yet, almost every piece of commercial software is built on the free labor of open source devs
- Towaway69 3y agoBut is it free labour? Many work for companies that pay their salary. It's the ones who work on technology in their free time but can't reach a bigger market who I would like to reach with this idea. Those that work not for money but because they are convinced by an idea.
- schwartzworld 3y agoI would say that paid open source work is the exception, not the rule.
- Towaway69 3y agoThere must be surveys on this somewhere. It would be interesting to know how exactly all these open source developers feed themselves. Reminds of that meme - will code HTML for food.
- syndicatedjelly 3y agoI hope I’m not making a strawman of your idea. So you want developers to work for free on whatever it is a company wants, with the only caveat that the dev gets to choose the tech stack? What is the value of the platform to the dev at that point? They can do that already without a middleman telling them what to work on. Furthermore, what company wants free work that might be totally irrelevant if the tech stacks don’t align?
- Towaway69 3y agoThe idea is that the developer gets to try out their tech stack on a real world problem. How many folks here have an itch and start developing something that scratches that itch and then don't know what the next step is. Now imagine being able to try out that solution in a bigger space. Will it work, will it fail, who knows. I as a developer want to try it out, the company has the risk that it will work and then they need to deal with the fact that their existing tech stack can't solve all their problems.