3 ms·

> I think he's saying that his "professional journey building OSS" is over. ie his day job needs to generate income. I agree that he’s saying this. But FTA: >

> I think he's saying that his "professional journey building OSS" is over. ie his day job needs to generate income. I agree that he’s saying this. But FTA: > Open source is great, but it's not sustainable. We self-sabotaged ourselves over decades, and now we're at a point where it's hard to turn back. Publishing source code for the greater good is a noble cause, but to be honest, I think that over the years, using "open source" has become an excuse to avoid paying for software. I interpreted this as something beyond just his personal position, and seemed like a broader indictment of the OSS model.

bruce511 3y ago
There's OSS at the large-scale level (Linux, Firefox, Postgres) where the model is clearly working and sustainable. There's also OSS at the "one man band has a small project" level, where, IMO, the sustainable model has yet to be figured out.
- thayne 3y ago
  At the one man band level, it works fine if it is a hobby. The problem is figuring out how to make a living supporting a small project.
  - fanf2 3y ago
    It works OK if the small project is a byproduct of a day job whose primary purpose is something else.
    - cvwright 3y ago
      Seems like this is true at the larger scale as well. For example, IBM and SGI etc helping to improve Linux in the 90s / early 00s.
- CRConrad 3y ago
  > There's OSS at the large-scale level (Linux, Firefox, Postgres) where the model is clearly working and sustainable. Is it, really? At "the large-scale level" of the project, perhaps -- but what do we know about how "sustained" individual contributors even to those projects feel they are being?
  - pabs3 3y ago
    The LWN folks have some stats about employment of Linux contributors. Most contributions are paid, but the volunteers ("None") beat a number of companies by changesets and by lines changed. https://lwn.net/Articles/964106/ https://lwn.net/Articles/964106/

bruce511 3y ago

There's OSS at the large-scale level (Linux, Firefox, Postgres) where the model is clearly working and sustainable. There's also OSS at the "one man band has a small project" level, where, IMO, the sustainable model has yet to be figured out.

thayne 3y ago
At the one man band level, it works fine if it is a hobby. The problem is figuring out how to make a living supporting a small project.
- fanf2 3y ago
  It works OK if the small project is a byproduct of a day job whose primary purpose is something else.
  - cvwright 3y ago
    Seems like this is true at the larger scale as well. For example, IBM and SGI etc helping to improve Linux in the 90s / early 00s.
CRConrad 3y ago
> There's OSS at the large-scale level (Linux, Firefox, Postgres) where the model is clearly working and sustainable. Is it, really? At "the large-scale level" of the project, perhaps -- but what do we know about how "sustained" individual contributors even to those projects feel they are being?
- pabs3 3y ago
  The LWN folks have some stats about employment of Linux contributors. Most contributions are paid, but the volunteers ("None") beat a number of companies by changesets and by lines changed. https://lwn.net/Articles/964106/ https://lwn.net/Articles/964106/