7 ms·

So, what is your suggestion for funding truly open source software, then?

sukilot 9y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_models_for_open-source_software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_models_for_open-sourc...
- forsaken 9y ago
  https://www.fordfoundation.org/library/reports-and-studies/roads-and-bridges-the-unseen-labor-behind-our-digital-infrastructure/ https://www.fordfoundation.org/library/reports-and-studies/r...
  - quadrangle 9y ago
    https://wiki.snowdrift.coop/market-research/history/software/public-software https://wiki.snowdrift.coop/market-research/history/software...
liotier 9y ago
Scratch your own itch ! Free software is in the interest of the users - not in anyone else's interest. So, if you need software and if that software isn't your competitive edge, you have an incentive to cooperate with other users (as a developer or as a client of developers) and a free software license is a way to regulate that cooperation. Criticizing free software licenses for not providing a business model is missing the point entirely.
hannob 9y ago
I find that a strange question to be honest. Plenty of FOSS is well funded. Not sure what you mean with "truly", but in my worldview code that is under a license accepted by both FSF/OSI is "truly" FOSS. A lot of people work on such code and are well payed. I totally see the problems. But it's not that nothing is happening and no solutions exist. OpenSSL moved from "mostly one overworked guy with little funding" to "stable funding from multiple parties". It did so by convincing some major internet players that they need to increase the funding of software important for running the Internet. That is one way that can work. It's not the only one.
- stcredzero 9y ago
  OpenSSL moved from "mostly one overworked guy with little funding" to "stable funding from multiple parties". It did so by convincing some major internet players that they need to increase the funding of software important for running the Internet. How about this for a metric for whether the system is broken or not: What's a good estimate for the monetary cost of the "convincing"? Just revoking all of the keys cost millions. I wonder what the cost of the malicious activity was?
- c-smile 9y ago
  > Plenty of FOSS is well funded For example?
  - hannob 9y ago
    > > Plenty of FOSS is well funded > For example? Is that a serious question? Ok... I heard Google pays its employers quite well. Plenty of FOSS is developed by Google, for example large parts of Chrome. I think Linus Torvalds gets a reasonable salary. So do many other kernel hackers - payed by all kinds of companies. Red Hat seems to be doing well, they have plenty of people working in all kinds of FOSS projects. I already mentioned OpenSSL. React is developed mostly by Facebook employers. I guess Facebook pays good salaries.
    - Applejinx 9y ago
      You have to be Linus? Dang. That doesn't scale…
      - hannob 9y ago
        > You have to be Linus? No.
- atomashpolskiy 9y ago
  > Plenty of FOSS is well funded You might be interested in looking at "Roads and Bridges: The Unseen Labor Behind Our Digital Infrastructure" study from 2016 [1], which basically shows, that this is a very common misconception and not true at all (and why it's dangerous to continue assuming this way). [1] https://www.fordfoundation.org/library/reports-and-studies/roads-and-bridges-the-unseen-labor-behind-our-digital-infrastructure/ https://www.fordfoundation.org/library/reports-and-studies/r...
jdietrich 9y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10863901 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10863901
archagon 9y ago
One-click micropayment donations via web/OS standards and/or cryptocurrency; centralized patronage sites that allot money to OSS projects based on various metrics; different licenses for assets and code, with assets only available to licensees? Some ideas.
door 9y ago
publicly-funded grants
sjellis 9y ago
I suspect that the first step is for to break down the problem a bit more. Large projects need full-time developers, plus other kinds of expertise, which means organizations. For the long tail of libraries and small tools, I don't think that the problem is funding, it's team-building. If lone maintainers had better ways of recruiting extra team members to help carry the load, there would be a lot less of an issue with burn-out.
mirabilos 9y ago
Just find something that brings bread on the table. Doesn’t even have to be software-related, could be, idfk, gardening.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_models_for_open-source_software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_models_for_open-sourc...

forsaken 9y ago
https://www.fordfoundation.org/library/reports-and-studies/roads-and-bridges-the-unseen-labor-behind-our-digital-infrastructure/ https://www.fordfoundation.org/library/reports-and-studies/r...
- quadrangle 9y ago
  https://wiki.snowdrift.coop/market-research/history/software/public-software https://wiki.snowdrift.coop/market-research/history/software...

liotier 9y ago

Scratch your own itch ! Free software is in the interest of the users - not in anyone else's interest. So, if you need software and if that software isn't your competitive edge, you have an incentive to cooperate with other users (as a developer or as a client of developers) and a free software license is a way to regulate that cooperation. Criticizing free software licenses for not providing a business model is missing the point entirely.

hannob 9y ago

I find that a strange question to be honest. Plenty of FOSS is well funded. Not sure what you mean with "truly", but in my worldview code that is under a license accepted by both FSF/OSI is "truly" FOSS. A lot of people work on such code and are well payed. I totally see the problems. But it's not that nothing is happening and no solutions exist. OpenSSL moved from "mostly one overworked guy with little funding" to "stable funding from multiple parties". It did so by convincing some major internet players that they need to increase the funding of software important for running the Internet. That is one way that can work. It's not the only one.

stcredzero 9y ago
OpenSSL moved from "mostly one overworked guy with little funding" to "stable funding from multiple parties". It did so by convincing some major internet players that they need to increase the funding of software important for running the Internet. How about this for a metric for whether the system is broken or not: What's a good estimate for the monetary cost of the "convincing"? Just revoking all of the keys cost millions. I wonder what the cost of the malicious activity was?
c-smile 9y ago
> Plenty of FOSS is well funded For example?
- hannob 9y ago
  > > Plenty of FOSS is well funded > For example? Is that a serious question? Ok... I heard Google pays its employers quite well. Plenty of FOSS is developed by Google, for example large parts of Chrome. I think Linus Torvalds gets a reasonable salary. So do many other kernel hackers - payed by all kinds of companies. Red Hat seems to be doing well, they have plenty of people working in all kinds of FOSS projects. I already mentioned OpenSSL. React is developed mostly by Facebook employers. I guess Facebook pays good salaries.
  - Applejinx 9y ago
    You have to be Linus? Dang. That doesn't scale…
    - hannob 9y ago
      > You have to be Linus? No.
atomashpolskiy 9y ago
> Plenty of FOSS is well funded You might be interested in looking at "Roads and Bridges: The Unseen Labor Behind Our Digital Infrastructure" study from 2016 [1], which basically shows, that this is a very common misconception and not true at all (and why it's dangerous to continue assuming this way). [1] https://www.fordfoundation.org/library/reports-and-studies/roads-and-bridges-the-unseen-labor-behind-our-digital-infrastructure/ https://www.fordfoundation.org/library/reports-and-studies/r...

jdietrich 9y ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10863901 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10863901

archagon 9y ago

One-click micropayment donations via web/OS standards and/or cryptocurrency; centralized patronage sites that allot money to OSS projects based on various metrics; different licenses for assets and code, with assets only available to licensees? Some ideas.

door 9y ago

publicly-funded grants

sjellis 9y ago

I suspect that the first step is for to break down the problem a bit more. Large projects need full-time developers, plus other kinds of expertise, which means organizations. For the long tail of libraries and small tools, I don't think that the problem is funding, it's team-building. If lone maintainers had better ways of recruiting extra team members to help carry the load, there would be a lot less of an issue with burn-out.

mirabilos 9y ago

Just find something that brings bread on the table. Doesn’t even have to be software-related, could be, idfk, gardening.