Open Source Questions

Why would people want to spend considerable amount of their time writing codes if they don't get paid?

How could we expect programmers to make quality product with lack of incentive?

Is Open Source the software equivalent of Communism?

 

For most its a hobby. Lots of people just enjoy programming. For others, they have big ideals about bettering computers for everyone. There is plenty of good open source software for use on all platforms, not just Linux.

 

Open source is more like 'lets all pool together to make an app that we would want to use.' Linux was started by programmers who wanted an OS made specifically for them, OpenOffice by another group, and so on and so forth. I myself would love to work on developing the Linux OS and tweaking it to my needs, but I don't have time nor the skill yet.

Honestly, they do it for themselves (at least that is how I view it and there is nothing wrong with that approach)...but the community as a whole benefits.

 

Here's a detailed article about open source programs that answers most, if not all questions
http://www.builderau.com.au/strategy/businessmanagement/soa/How-to-make-money-from-Open-source/0,339028271,339191343,00.htm

 

I do most of my programming for fun - not to get paid. It could also be for tax reasons. Also open source is a great way to get a number of people working on a project as a team (Firefox for example). Having loads of people working on a project is a great way to expand the project beyond what one individual would normally be capable of.

 

Intellectual satisfaction is important for a lot of people. For example, just think about the greatest thinkers of all time. Why do you think they have been famous? It's because they have had huge ambitions and they have been obsessed with specific problems, not because of a big salary.

Money doesn't make intelligent or creative.

 

Why would people want to spend considerable amounts of time doing X if they don't get paid, where X can be anything from watching TV to running marathons to reading books?

What do you mean, lack of incentive? Solving a problem that you have isn't incentive? Giving it away free costs almost nothing, and if someone else upgrades it, you get the updated software back for free. Everyone wins. Don't be fooled... the economics of things change significantly when things become infinitely replicable for no marginal cost. It costs nothing to make a copy of a file, so the economics no longer hinge on the limited supply of files, they hinge on the limited supply of programmer/expert time.

It's only the equivalent of Communism if you were taking anything away from the producers. You aren't. If someone gives you a copy of their source code, they still have the source code. It's not like having two cows and having to give one to someone without any cows, which is what communism is (in theory, not in practice).

Any other silly, trollish questions?

 

It may be a troll, but it's hard to blame really non-technical people for believing the FUD that microsoft continually spews. Or perhaps the OP is working on a school paper?

 

I think the thing that most people don't remember is that the computer world as we know it today started out as a hobby. People just helping each other and then passing the knowledge off to the next person. Then it became an industry in which keeping secrets was the main idea. The people that fight open source realize that knowledge is power and want to keep the power to themselves. That way everyone has to do what they want, the way they want them to do it. As an example just look at MS windows, vista, MS office and IE.

 

Why do you bother replying to this kind of posts?

 

The first two questions are simply based on false premises. Of course, some pretty important open-source developers get paid. And, it might be shocking, but there are also a lot of businesses out there making money with open source (including M$). As for incentives, note that there are a lot of other incentives that hard cash...

Your third question is more interesting. There are clearly some ppl out there defending Linux with so much fervor that one can get the impression it's a religion or political ideology Personally, I don't mind ppl being enthusiastic about good community effort, but some open sourcers can be a bit more radical..

 

Most open source programmers do it for their own sake. Most people who work on the linux kernel do it because *they* want a better kernel to use on their home computer (either that, or because they're being employed by a company to work on it, because that company has an interest in the kernel)

And that should answer the second question too. The incentive is usually simply "I want good software on my computer", which can be a pretty powerful motivation.

 

deflex,

I think your answer is the best I have read!