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What's wrong with them getting jobs?

whit537 14y ago
They're potentially less free to pursue their vision for how to make the world better, because they have to answer to corporate interests.
- mibbitier 14y ago
  Corporate interests aren't always bad. I'd say most of the time they are pretty much aligned with making the world better. The title asks "Is private funding viable?". The answer is no.
  - whit537 14y ago
    > Corporate interests aren't always bad. True, and Gittip couldn't exist without corporations: http://blog.gittip.com/post/25215503687/corporations-and-open-ones http://blog.gittip.com/post/25215503687/corporations-and-ope... Can we do even better than "most of the time pretty much"? > The answer is no. What makes you say that?
kingkilr 14y ago
We have jobs right now, it's not like we're hobos. But if you ask any open source developer what's stopping them from adding cool new feature X, fixing bug Y, or starting project Z that they're excited about the answer distribution will look like: 25% - I haven't needed that yet 75% - I don't have the time .00001 % - That is completely technically infeasaible (Numbers may not add up to 100 after rounding). I'll write on my personal blog later today why you should care about all of that, but that's the view from 10,000 feet.
- whit537 14y ago
  For the record: http://alexgaynor.net/2012/jul/04/why-personal-funding/ http://alexgaynor.net/2012/jul/04/why-personal-funding/
bkmontgomery 14y ago
I'm 99% sure that everyone receiving tips has a job. Many of these people probably also love what they're doing. I also know that a lot of them are very self motivated and build things on their own time in order to solve common problems in an elegant way. But isn't that what they're also trying to do at a "job"? I've been building products based on open source technology for the past 10 years. However, I've seen a HUGE increase int the diversity and the amount of open code I've used over the past 3 years! I feel personally indebted to a number of people that I've never met, because I'm using their work! Therefore, I'm happy to tip them a modest amount weekly (what little I can afford) I love the idea of gittip, and I think it could make "open source developer" a viable job... BUT I don't think it's going to happen overnight. And it may not even happen while individuals are the only ones tipping. So, what if companies could (or would) tip? There are probably a number of small companies that use open source tech, who can't afford the salary of a mid-level silicon valley engineer, but could afford to pool their resources to support great open source projects (side note: $160k/year is a very comfortable living in the Southeastern US, and probably elsewhere not right on East/West Coast).
- whit537 14y ago
  We have a ticket for providing invoices, with the use case of making Gittip more friendly to companies wanting to give. https://github.com/whit537/www.gittip.com/issues/83 https://github.com/whit537/www.gittip.com/issues/83
  - bkmontgomery 14y ago
    Neat. Guess I should head over and read through the other issues, so I know what's going on ;)

They're potentially less free to pursue their vision for how to make the world better, because they have to answer to corporate interests.

mibbitier 14y ago
Corporate interests aren't always bad. I'd say most of the time they are pretty much aligned with making the world better. The title asks "Is private funding viable?". The answer is no.
- whit537 14y ago
  > Corporate interests aren't always bad. True, and Gittip couldn't exist without corporations: http://blog.gittip.com/post/25215503687/corporations-and-open-ones http://blog.gittip.com/post/25215503687/corporations-and-ope... Can we do even better than "most of the time pretty much"? > The answer is no. What makes you say that?

kingkilr 14y ago

We have jobs right now, it's not like we're hobos. But if you ask any open source developer what's stopping them from adding cool new feature X, fixing bug Y, or starting project Z that they're excited about the answer distribution will look like: 25% - I haven't needed that yet 75% - I don't have the time .00001 % - That is completely technically infeasaible (Numbers may not add up to 100 after rounding). I'll write on my personal blog later today why you should care about all of that, but that's the view from 10,000 feet.

whit537 14y ago
For the record: http://alexgaynor.net/2012/jul/04/why-personal-funding/ http://alexgaynor.net/2012/jul/04/why-personal-funding/

bkmontgomery 14y ago

I'm 99% sure that everyone receiving tips has a job. Many of these people probably also love what they're doing. I also know that a lot of them are very self motivated and build things on their own time in order to solve common problems in an elegant way. But isn't that what they're also trying to do at a "job"? I've been building products based on open source technology for the past 10 years. However, I've seen a HUGE increase int the diversity and the amount of open code I've used over the past 3 years! I feel personally indebted to a number of people that I've never met, because I'm using their work! Therefore, I'm happy to tip them a modest amount weekly (what little I can afford) I love the idea of gittip, and I think it could make "open source developer" a viable job... BUT I don't think it's going to happen overnight. And it may not even happen while individuals are the only ones tipping. So, what if companies could (or would) tip? There are probably a number of small companies that use open source tech, who can't afford the salary of a mid-level silicon valley engineer, but could afford to pool their resources to support great open source projects (side note: $160k/year is a very comfortable living in the Southeastern US, and probably elsewhere not right on East/West Coast).

whit537 14y ago
We have a ticket for providing invoices, with the use case of making Gittip more friendly to companies wanting to give. https://github.com/whit537/www.gittip.com/issues/83 https://github.com/whit537/www.gittip.com/issues/83
- bkmontgomery 14y ago
  Neat. Guess I should head over and read through the other issues, so I know what's going on ;)