[Novalug] Why create Free Stuff (Was censorship of Wikipedia)

[Clif Flynt]

On Mon, Aug 20, 2007 at 09:18:11AM -0400, David Zakar wrote:
> It's easier than that, even: people hacking stuff onto an open source
> application are usually doing it because they personally want/need it.
> People writing a textbook don't want/need the textbook themselves. It's a
> matter of self-interest, and it's why the open source model doesn't work in
> a lot of places.
> 

  There's lots of ways to serve self-interest in Free/Open projects.
  
  I recommended open source projects to a lot of folks who got laid off
during the recent depression and new grads as a way to beef up the
resume.  I know several folks who got nice jobs in their area of
interest because some business liked their work on an OS project.

  I wrote a dead-tree book a few years ago.  I got paid for it, but in
actual fact, the money you make from a tech book is about the same as
the hourly rate at McDonalds.  (Mine was considered a very good seller,
the hours I put into writing, proofing, etc eventually got paid back at
almost $10.00 / hour.)

  What being an author did to my credentials and ability to bill what I
was worth was priceless.

  Being the author of a popular OS project certainly didn't hurt Linus
Torvalds or Larry Wall's careers.

  My reasons for writing OS code for vary.

  Sometimes it's because I want something that does it my way, and I
might as well let this thing loose on an unsuspecting public.

  Sometimes it's because I have a new tool I need to become more
familiar with, and this project looks like a way to become comfortable
with the tool.

  Sometimes its because  someone else wants a tool but can't pay for
it, and making this tool gets me a bit of name recognition in an area
where I don't normally show up.
  
  Sometimes its a way to pay back/forward to other folks who are doing
a project I'm using.  Fixing a bug or two or adding a new config tool
helps everyone.

  And lets not ignore the simple egoboo of getting a email from someone
saying "Thanks for TclTutor" (or whatever).  Those make my day.

  Clif
  
-- 
.... Clif Flynt ... http://www.cflynt.com ... clif at cflynt.com ...
.. Tcl/Tk: A Developer's Guide (2nd edition) - Morgan Kauffman ..
14th Annual Tcl/Tk Conference:  Sep 24-28 2007,  New Orleans, LA.
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