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I think there are a variety of tools like LibreOffice, GIMP, and various more minor things that have mostly been developed after-hours or completely outside of
by ghaff 2y ago
I think there are a variety of tools like LibreOffice, GIMP, and various more minor things that have mostly been developed after-hours or completely outside of corporate developers but they're almost certainly in the minority when it comes to major projects. (And one can reasonably argue that those two examples aren't especially successful.)
- jongjong 2y agoYep and these are well known because they existed for a long time before the media monopoly. There are newer tools which we never hear about. Once in a while I come across some website of curated indie SaaS solutions and it's unbelievable what exists. Yet this massive ecosystem is probably just one bubble out of hundreds. You only hear about the tools which received VC funding. It is VC-funding first, then traction, not the other way around as they try to portray it. You can always connect the founders socially to insiders prior to their launching and raising funding. Some failed multiple ventures yet keep receiving funding... but among those which succeed, there is almost always a social connection. Even in cases where I met a founder who I believed to be 'self-made', turns out there's a story behind him like his wife's parents had sold their company for millions and his brother rubs shoulders with celebrities.
- SoftTalker 2y agoLibreOffice traces back to the commercial StarOffice. Unlikely any after-hours project build something of that complexity from scratch
- ajdlinux 2y agoThere are also a few businesses e.g. Collabora that pay LibreOffice developers today.