alt Hacker Newsno, I work on open source because I want it to be freely available to all, without conditions
I view it as a type of charity. I know not everybody can afford to use their time without compensation. that's ok!
but I will personally never charge, and I oppose this commercial mindset
Replies
I admire this mindset, and this is what I try and do as well with my projects.
But for larger projects, on which the giants rests, (I'm thinking cURL, ffmpeg etc.) it most likely stops becoming/feeling like charity. Especially, since a lot of people do not see it as charity, and thus tries to force the maintainer(s) to do even more unpaid work.
This seems more about infrastructure than open source itself. It seems fair to let them pay for the additional unnecessary costs they create, especially when they can do better.
ultra rich corporations generally reach their status thru direct harm. why are you ok with them using your product for free?
But also does it even have to be a construed as charity? Why do we need to put it in economic terms? Why not just -- something you do because otherwise it wouldn't exist? And you want it to exist?
In any case, +1, I find these posts to be pretty tiresome, and honestly, at this point irritating. Open source is open source, it's code we build in the open, together. If you don't have the time or energy to contribute, please let other people take over. It's not open source if it feels like work you should be compensated for. In my opinion, you should save that mentality for your job.