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This is a bon mot. Not entirely sure I agree with it, particularly given the spectrums of intensity of founding vs. maintainership, but there needs to be a rethink of the desirability of having agents of for-profit companies routinely expect free labor from professionals.
I think quite a bit of the change has to come from the OSS community and maintainers.
Bluntly, there’s a value pie to be cut, and if we persist in saying “Pie cutting is beneath me; some business should handle that, and I will keep myself aloof from commercials” then crumbs.
Bluntly, there’s a value pie to be cut, and if we persist in saying “Pie cutting is beneath me; some business should handle that, and I will keep myself aloof from commercials” then crumbs.
I always feel a little conflicted here with my entrepreneur hat on.
When I was running a company I sent $X0k to OSS projects I used, usually after educating them what they’d need to successfully invoice a company.
When I was running a company I sent $X0k to OSS projects I used, usually after educating them what they’d need to successfully invoice a company.
And I’ll admit to a little bit of “If my accountant made a considered decision to just do my taxes for free I’d probably say ‘Well, you’re a professional, clearly you have thought that through’ but I’m fixing an OSS dev’s business at expense of mine due to presumed incapacity.”
I would like our community to develop and replicate the social technology it takes to turn being an OSS maintainer of a successful project into a viable career path, like running a SaaS company, being a startup founder, or taking AppAmaGooBookSoft’s shilling are all options.
