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I would never contribute to commercially backed, freely licensed project unless I was being paid. Saying this as a developer who is paid for exactly that, not i

I would never contribute to commercially backed, freely licensed project unless I was being paid. Saying this as a developer who is paid for exactly that, not it any inside knowledge that points to ulterior motives, but just the idea of giving a company free labour is unsettling.

objektif 3y ago
It is almost same as transferring your hard earned money to the founders of the company. Of course it is unsettling.
- nijave 3y ago
  Technically you do that all the time when you buy any sort of product. Ideally you derive value of some sort for your payment.
anacrolix 3y ago
Like the Go project?
- madeofpalk 3y ago
  Of course "it depends", and people should make their own mind up with what they're comfortable with. Google doesn't monetise Go, so I would have less problems contributing to it. Redis, before the license change, is a perfect example of what I wouldn't contribute to.
sdesol 3y ago
> I would never contribute to commercially backed, freely licensed project unless I was being paid. Based on what I've seen, a lot of people contribute to VC/commercially backed projects for resume/career growth reasons.
- cratermoon 3y ago
  It's fair to say that in the early days of the FOSS movement, people were contributing for prestige and recognition. The commercialization into "Open Source" meant that work was appropriated for profit by organizations that weren't interested in either the "free as in beer" or "free as in freedom" aspects. Naturally people followed their mercenary lead and started to work on them for the financial benefits.
- nijave 3y ago
  I'll do small contributions if I wanted to learn about the software and discovered bugs or other small issues. Commercially backed is a pretty big bucket and includes things like Linux and a lot of Apache Foundation projects (iirc Apache projects need to maintain a sponsoring organization but it doesn't have to be for profit)
andix 3y ago
> I would never contribute to commercially backed, freely licensed project unless I was being paid. I understand that position, but I think it depends on a few more factors.

objektif 3y ago

It is almost same as transferring your hard earned money to the founders of the company. Of course it is unsettling.

nijave 3y ago
Technically you do that all the time when you buy any sort of product. Ideally you derive value of some sort for your payment.

anacrolix 3y ago

Like the Go project?

madeofpalk 3y ago
Of course "it depends", and people should make their own mind up with what they're comfortable with. Google doesn't monetise Go, so I would have less problems contributing to it. Redis, before the license change, is a perfect example of what I wouldn't contribute to.

sdesol 3y ago

> I would never contribute to commercially backed, freely licensed project unless I was being paid. Based on what I've seen, a lot of people contribute to VC/commercially backed projects for resume/career growth reasons.

cratermoon 3y ago
It's fair to say that in the early days of the FOSS movement, people were contributing for prestige and recognition. The commercialization into "Open Source" meant that work was appropriated for profit by organizations that weren't interested in either the "free as in beer" or "free as in freedom" aspects. Naturally people followed their mercenary lead and started to work on them for the financial benefits.
nijave 3y ago
I'll do small contributions if I wanted to learn about the software and discovered bugs or other small issues. Commercially backed is a pretty big bucket and includes things like Linux and a lot of Apache Foundation projects (iirc Apache projects need to maintain a sponsoring organization but it doesn't have to be for profit)

andix 3y ago

> I would never contribute to commercially backed, freely licensed project unless I was being paid. I understand that position, but I think it depends on a few more factors.