OSS motivations (was RE: anybody out there)

[vbajaj@sas.upenn.edu]

> As far as how programmers respond to bug reports; please realize that,
> for all but the top crust, programming open source software is a
> thankless job.  These people work long and hard to give you something
> that they hope you will find useful and expect near to nothing in return.
> What they usually get is endless requests for added features or fixes.

I don't want to get involved in the other stuff, but... :)

You make it sound as though OSS is a sort of martyrdom.  I'm certainly not "top
crust," but I often hack OSS.  Indeed, I always advocate OSS in all
network security consultations for obvious reasons.  For both these activities,
I expect to be paid well enough to meet the burdens of tuition.  I would say
that it is probably the top crust programmer who maintains large, well-used,
publicity garnering packages that is most attacked in this fashion, and he is
free to simply ignore hostile requests.  Further, the experience of dealing with
hostile users is universal to anything technological, open source or not.

The idea that OSS developers "expect near to nothing in return" is a barrier to
the adoption of an OSS philosophy.  As a scientist (or at least, soon-to-be), I
view OSS to be of the same mold as scientific inquiry.  I can engage in this
inquiry for whatever purpose I wish, but the ultimate success of my inquiry is
dependent on both peer review and a foundation of ideas and knowledge.  The
ultimate product is far more reliable than a proprietary one.

--Vik

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