6 ms·

As a learning exercise As a labor of love To scratch an itch To explore an idea Many reasons

nsonha 5y ago
that is fine, but one these projects cross some point, the creators have the tendency to forget their motivation being selfish in the first place, and try to promote their creation as if what they had in mind was to solve problem for other people.
- gjvc 5y ago
  That's exactly right -- they put the work in to fix the problem they had in mind.
- ksec 5y ago
  Selfish? Seriously, what are you talking about?
  - nsonha 5y ago
    "labor of love To scratch an itch To explore an idea" that by no mean is a bad thing, it just means doing things for themselves, to express, to learn etc, typical of creative work. People do that all the time. However in OSS there is this thing when people feel they need to present their work as useful to others eventhough clearly what drives their work has nothing to do with other peoples' needs, it's just their itch.
    - d_tr 5y ago
      I cannot be inside anyone's mind, but I know that one can have more than one equally strong motives when doing something.
      - nsonha 5y ago
        they can, but don't have to, again there is nothing wrong with doing thing for yourself. Saying people always have others' interest in mind when doing side project does not reflect reality. Many of these projects are built with minimal feedback, so if they solve other people's problem it's by coincidence. I'm talking past the project in discussion of course, I don't know anything about it.
    - badsectoracula 5y ago
      And that is a problem because...? Remember that one of the original motivators behind "Open Source" is scratching your own itch.
      - nsonha 5y ago
        > the original motivators behind "Open Source" is scratching your own itch. that's what I said, and you repeated it, as if it's some new insight or supports some argument. Is there not an issue in OSS where thing that should not be used in commercial context, are used in commercial context, they break, then people blame the adopters for expecting too much from OSS? Rarely the other side of the coin is addressed which is creators (not all of them) went out of their way to promote adoption of these things. Here is an analogy: art design chair sold as office work chair. Of course if you are smart you would not buy them because over time the ergonomic would kill you. But that doesn't mean no one would. When some gullible people buys these chair, you say: idiots. However, I bet you also think about the people who made these chairs paid for TV commercials that never show the ergonomics of the thing, and question their responsibility. Now replace "art" with "hobbyist software"
        d_tr 5y ago
        You are saying a different thing now. Your previous comment touched a philosophical matter. Now it's about using, in a commercial product, OSS software people develop in their own time and that they might promote too much (I read this as "irresponsibly"). Both of these do not apply only to this kind of software and even if they did, what is the point of having this discussion (which could be an interesting one) here? If anything, we should encourage people that choose do this sort of work in this day and age.
        nsonha 5y ago
        the conversation derailed long time ago, I originally commented about why they need a new OS because it seems too me it's easier to just create a DE.

that is fine, but one these projects cross some point, the creators have the tendency to forget their motivation being selfish in the first place, and try to promote their creation as if what they had in mind was to solve problem for other people.

gjvc 5y ago
That's exactly right -- they put the work in to fix the problem they had in mind.
ksec 5y ago
Selfish? Seriously, what are you talking about?
- nsonha 5y ago
  "labor of love To scratch an itch To explore an idea" that by no mean is a bad thing, it just means doing things for themselves, to express, to learn etc, typical of creative work. People do that all the time. However in OSS there is this thing when people feel they need to present their work as useful to others eventhough clearly what drives their work has nothing to do with other peoples' needs, it's just their itch.
  - d_tr 5y ago
    I cannot be inside anyone's mind, but I know that one can have more than one equally strong motives when doing something.
    - nsonha 5y ago
      they can, but don't have to, again there is nothing wrong with doing thing for yourself. Saying people always have others' interest in mind when doing side project does not reflect reality. Many of these projects are built with minimal feedback, so if they solve other people's problem it's by coincidence. I'm talking past the project in discussion of course, I don't know anything about it.
  - badsectoracula 5y ago
    And that is a problem because...? Remember that one of the original motivators behind "Open Source" is scratching your own itch.
    - nsonha 5y ago
      > the original motivators behind "Open Source" is scratching your own itch. that's what I said, and you repeated it, as if it's some new insight or supports some argument. Is there not an issue in OSS where thing that should not be used in commercial context, are used in commercial context, they break, then people blame the adopters for expecting too much from OSS? Rarely the other side of the coin is addressed which is creators (not all of them) went out of their way to promote adoption of these things. Here is an analogy: art design chair sold as office work chair. Of course if you are smart you would not buy them because over time the ergonomic would kill you. But that doesn't mean no one would. When some gullible people buys these chair, you say: idiots. However, I bet you also think about the people who made these chairs paid for TV commercials that never show the ergonomics of the thing, and question their responsibility. Now replace "art" with "hobbyist software"
      - d_tr 5y ago
        You are saying a different thing now. Your previous comment touched a philosophical matter. Now it's about using, in a commercial product, OSS software people develop in their own time and that they might promote too much (I read this as "irresponsibly"). Both of these do not apply only to this kind of software and even if they did, what is the point of having this discussion (which could be an interesting one) here? If anything, we should encourage people that choose do this sort of work in this day and age.
        nsonha 5y ago
        the conversation derailed long time ago, I originally commented about why they need a new OS because it seems too me it's easier to just create a DE.