3 ms·

I know that this is an unpopular opinion but I've seen numerous cases where NIH is the optimal approach. I worked in a large company that insisted on using open

I know that this is an unpopular opinion but I've seen numerous cases where NIH is the optimal approach. I worked in a large company that insisted on using open source everywhere they could. Except that making all of that zoo work with a a single {build,logging,monitoring} system was a major PITA and so folks often cut corners turning large parts of crucial systems into black boxes. Also, some of the open-source stuff used was of suboptimal quality to say the least and so the company was forced to start maintaining a whole bunch of projects that no one else cared about. And if something stopped working there was hardly anyone who understood how exactly a FOSS project X or Y works and so countless hours were spent on digging through proverbial mud.

mjklin 12y ago
As the saying goes, FOSS is only free if your time is worth zero.
- cbd1984 12y ago
  As the saying goes, closed-source only costs the sticker price if your time is worth zero.
awinder 12y ago
I don't think I'd ever use "nih" to describe making wise decisions to go build a better version of something that exists in the community already. But "NIH Syndrome", the one where every little thing requires a custom built library or framework, is almost never wise or appropriate.
- fishnchips 12y ago
  For my immediate team I required that a FOSS project be: 1) alive and well - judging by the number and recency of contributions; 2) modular - monolithic binaries are a no-no but libraries are generally fine; 3) use one of the few languages well supported by the existing build system; Once we started using those guidelines most FOSS projects we considered were dead in the water. (so were most commercial products BTW). The only thing is that even though my immediate team saw the benefit of this approach once I started talking about it in a wider circle my approach was considered an extreme case of NIH.

mjklin 12y ago

As the saying goes, FOSS is only free if your time is worth zero.

cbd1984 12y ago
As the saying goes, closed-source only costs the sticker price if your time is worth zero.

awinder 12y ago

I don't think I'd ever use "nih" to describe making wise decisions to go build a better version of something that exists in the community already. But "NIH Syndrome", the one where every little thing requires a custom built library or framework, is almost never wise or appropriate.

fishnchips 12y ago
For my immediate team I required that a FOSS project be: 1) alive and well - judging by the number and recency of contributions; 2) modular - monolithic binaries are a no-no but libraries are generally fine; 3) use one of the few languages well supported by the existing build system; Once we started using those guidelines most FOSS projects we considered were dead in the water. (so were most commercial products BTW). The only thing is that even though my immediate team saw the benefit of this approach once I started talking about it in a wider circle my approach was considered an extreme case of NIH.