Money or Belief
Which is more powerful?
Say we have a software project in the FOSS community and say it needs to have 5 developers work on it, spending a total of 90 developer days between them in order to get it to a usable state. That’s a fairly large amount of work and most people will dismiss the project, as it’s not in a usable state.
This is the FOSS bootstrapping problem. If you can’t find a way to boot your project, then you’ll be toiling on it for years. Slowly becoming more behind with the technology. Most programmers don’t want to do that.
To solve this you can inject money into the problem. Get a decent amount of investment at the start a simply pay programmers to make the thing work. This is a good way to do it as I like it when programmers get paid.
Otherwise your going to have to drum up some community support and it’s going to need an awful lot of faith in the leader, the project idea and the prospects of it succeeding. Telling a bunch of people that it will succeed with their help is rather hard if you need a bunch of people to all believe it in order for it not to be a lie.
But, isn’t money just faith too? sure your not investing your time any more, but your investing your money and in some quarts that may be worse. Does this mean that we should be able to start interesting projects or does this mean that we have to gradually, very slowly work our way up to the goal with small pieces, evolve them forward with what we have to prove their worth first?
Your thoughts?
Tags: Free and Open Source Software, free software, open source, Ubuntu
Sure, money is belief. It is only distributed with the principle that ‘all animals are equal but some are more equal than others’. Wouldn’t it be discriminating if poor people can believe ‘less’ than rich people?
If you invest money into something and do not expect a financial return, it’s a hobby.
If you invest money into something and expect a financial return, it’s a business. Businesses are for profit, not fundamentalism, not ideals, not philosophies. They are about the bottom line. Period.
Take Microsoft for example, rather than trying to pass this “Internet Tax” to help “Fix” Windows security, if they really cared about security and Windows, they’d re-design it from the ground up — or at least update PCs from XP/Vista to Windows 7 for free.
Why don’t they? It’s a business.
Commercial software development is about money, not ideals.
F/LOSS software development is about ideals, philosophies, fundamentalism, egos, etc.
No one writes F/LOSS applications with the idea in mind of doing paid support for them, because the source is open. If they wanted to create a software package and make tons of money off of support, they’d code Microsoft Windows.
(Think about it. Money is made in the sale of Windows, bur far MORE money is made in the support of it.)
Ron: A business is a going concern and there is a very wide gap between operational income and *sit on your bum doing nothing profit*
If you’ve fallen into the trap of thinking that a business is only a profit concern, then your view is narrowed and more concealingly the nature of a normal mind is being ignored.
Most FOSS development happens because of self interest, not charity. It’s a business because it’s a going concern, it doesn’t earn as much profit as closed source because it’s not extortion.
There’s a reason some very profitable businesses aren’t legal.
“Do one thing, do it well” — Unix design philosophy
“Release early, release often” — FOSS design philosophy
The level of work you mention is either for a complete “marketable package” or involves research.
Starting FOSS projects with a fascinating core excites users into extending it. Show potential, forget “product” mentality.
“A business is a going concern and there is a very wide gap between operational income and *sit on your bum doing nothing profit*
Yes there is. No business wants to just break-even. They want to profit.
“If you’ve fallen into the trap of thinking that a business is only a profit concern, then your view is narrowed and more concealingly the nature of a normal mind is being ignored.”
Businesses don’t exist to be nice, to be cute, they exist to make money. The guy who likes to build PCs and is very good at it, but is lousy at business itself; he makes a wonderful employee but a lousy businessman of a quickly failing business. My view is not narrowed, and my mind is quite normal thank you very much.
I know you have a Socialist-Libertarian twist to your thinking, but you need to step outside of your personally-vested-in views and bias. It’s just business. Nothing personal about it.
“Most FOSS development happens because of self interest, not charity.”
Yes, self-interest indeed, not business.
“It’s a business because it’s a going concern, it doesn’t earn as much profit as closed source because it’s not extortion.”
Again, let go of the Socialist-Libertarian philosophies, step outside for an unbiased viewpoint to uncloud your view.
Ron: It’s not me walking around with his head in a cloud.
If I set up a business it’s because I want to control the way I get paid for the work I do. Profit is not earnings, it’s money without work. That is what I find so distasteful in my “Socialist-Libertarian philosophies”
And if you couldn’t tell, my positions are not vested bias they are reasoned rationale. Just because they happen to go against what you consider to be normal does not in and of it’s self disprove them.
Of course I’m not expecting anything less from people who have drunk the idiotic greed is good cool aid. Sure business needs good management and to it run properly, but that has _nothing_ at all to do with it’s charter.
See chartered business for details on the organisation of going concerns without profit incentives.
“Ron: It’s not me walking around with his head in a cloud.”
Such is your opinion.
“If I set up a business it’s because I want to control the way I get paid for the work I do. Profit is not earnings, it’s money without work. That is what I find so distasteful in my “Socialist-Libertarian philosophies”
Here, we too will have to agree to disagree. That’s just not my dogma.
“And if you couldn’t tell, my positions are not vested bias they are reasoned rationale.”
Fundamentalists of all variety state that, regardless of what they are supposedly being fundamental about, be it religion, politics, sports, etc. Admit it or not, (either ways is fine by me), but people get personally vested in and polarized to these systems and their belief in them. Backing them with expectations of themselves (and of others), this leads to suffering.
“Just because they happen to go against what you consider to be normal does not in and of it’s self disprove them.”
Everything is opinion, of course. there is no right or wrong, except as the individual believes there to be. This too is opinion.
“Of course I’m not expecting anything less from people who have drunk the idiotic greed is good cool aid.”
Yes, I can see that you aren’t….. how did you put it?… ah yes, that’s right….”positions are not vested bias they are reasoned rationale”. I can see that that ad homineum attacks = rationale. It’s that type of logic that has had people at each other’s throats since time began. yes, VERY logical that is.
“Sure business needs good management and to it run properly, but that has _nothing_ at all to do with it’s charter. See chartered business for details on the organisation of going concerns without profit incentives.”
Not always, but in some cases, yes, it does. Anyway, that is another topic of discussion and not relative to this one. My point is that business exist to make money, to generate not just income, but a profit.
You are entitled to your opinions, as I am entitled to mine. I will not try to disuade you from yours, nor attack you personally for them, just because we do not agree. I wish you would have shown me the same respect.
After all, is that the rationale thing to do?
Ron: Your words take the high ground but your tone is disrespectful.
Your opinion on what a business is, this is what causes suffering.