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It's great to consume OSS but there are little to none advantages in contributing. This privilege is left to FANG developers who need to release some OSS proje

It's great to consume OSS but there are little to none advantages in contributing. This privilege is left to FANG developers who need to release some OSS project to build a career and highlight the name of their employer. OSS was a miracle, it worked out of the sheer will of some amazing and ideologically motivated developers, in defiance of market laws. It's doomed to become smaller and smaller until AGI will revolutionise the field.

saagarjha 2y ago
Well there’s always the advantage that you can feel good about making something better while improving your skills.
shortrounddev2 2y ago
>in defiance of market laws My understanding of the economics of software is that open source software is inevitable. The marginal cost of producing and distributing software is zero, and so the only real way to make money is to sell access to physical resources as a service and give the software away for free.
- tzs 2y ago
  I don't see how that is an argument that open source software is inevitable. If the only way to make money is to sell access to a physical resource as a service and give the software away for free, then yes, I'll have to give my software away for free. But that doesn't mean I have to give the source to my software away for free. In fact the economic incentive may be to not give away source code, because giving away source code will make it easier for people providing competing resource access services to develop their software.
coldpie 2y ago
> It's great to consume OSS but there are little to none advantages in contributing The advantage is the software I use gets better. OSS works fine with purely selfish motives: implement the fixes & features you want for your needs, contribute them upstream so you don't have to maintain a diff.
- WesolyKubeczek 2y ago
  True, as long as the selfish one is a fellow craftsman. Once a tech giant comes in with an overwhelming interest of making the substrate (open source software and associated free labor) on which it grows its shit (products which bring in the money and surveil the hell out of you), it all breaks down and we have conundrums on what to do with it pop on HN every couple weeks. A pet conspiracy theory of mine is that there exists PR professionals who are now retired and ride their lambos into the sunset because they were successful in creating a negative rap for copyleft, promoting permissive licensing and convincing gullible community members and "evangelists" that it's their own idea.
  - coldpie 2y ago
    You seem to be deep in a hole based on some high profile, bad experiences. Take a moment to climb out of it and look around at all the cool stuff happening :)

saagarjha 2y ago

Well there’s always the advantage that you can feel good about making something better while improving your skills.

shortrounddev2 2y ago

>in defiance of market laws My understanding of the economics of software is that open source software is inevitable. The marginal cost of producing and distributing software is zero, and so the only real way to make money is to sell access to physical resources as a service and give the software away for free.

tzs 2y ago
I don't see how that is an argument that open source software is inevitable. If the only way to make money is to sell access to a physical resource as a service and give the software away for free, then yes, I'll have to give my software away for free. But that doesn't mean I have to give the source to my software away for free. In fact the economic incentive may be to not give away source code, because giving away source code will make it easier for people providing competing resource access services to develop their software.

coldpie 2y ago

> It's great to consume OSS but there are little to none advantages in contributing The advantage is the software I use gets better. OSS works fine with purely selfish motives: implement the fixes & features you want for your needs, contribute them upstream so you don't have to maintain a diff.

WesolyKubeczek 2y ago
True, as long as the selfish one is a fellow craftsman. Once a tech giant comes in with an overwhelming interest of making the substrate (open source software and associated free labor) on which it grows its shit (products which bring in the money and surveil the hell out of you), it all breaks down and we have conundrums on what to do with it pop on HN every couple weeks. A pet conspiracy theory of mine is that there exists PR professionals who are now retired and ride their lambos into the sunset because they were successful in creating a negative rap for copyleft, promoting permissive licensing and convincing gullible community members and "evangelists" that it's their own idea.
- coldpie 2y ago
  You seem to be deep in a hole based on some high profile, bad experiences. Take a moment to climb out of it and look around at all the cool stuff happening :)