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I though I should answer this Article by Industry Pundit Dana Blankenhorn
Are Open Source Developers Suffering?
Dana, you missed some of the key
motivations for open source developers:
Developers actually want people use the
code they make, and have a control over that destiny. It gives me
great "Nachas" to know that every TurboCASH
Accounting release that I make in a few days is quickly taken up by
at least 10 000 people and they really use it. I gives me a great
thrill when I know that the user who picks up a copy of the program or an
upgrade, finds that it is fantastic. I know that rushing through her
mind is the screaming question "How the heck did they produce
this for free?"
20 years later I still get a rush when
I push the "submit" button.
I get business motivation too. Even though we have over 1000 users, TurboCASH is a bit player. The Accounting market is an Oligopoly.
Not even Microsoft can survive in the SME Accounting market. From a
business point of view I know that each user we make costs either
Sage or Intuit a minimum of $ 500. Every cent that is not paid to
them, goes into our community. I really enjoy watching our
registrations and seeing that each hour thousands of dollars are made
for us. I am freeing small business from the software yoke. This makes me feel like Morpheus in the Matrix blasting out EMPs
from the Nebuchadnezzar.
Because TurboCASH is an Open
Source community, I am free to leave at anytime and take with me my
work. I understand that every contribution I make goes towards a
piece of code that I own. The biggest fear for an Open Source coder
is that her revenue will dry up and she will have to leave Open
Source coding and go work in some insurance company doing workflow
systems. The above motivation of greed and fear is what what makes
us such a dangerous group to deal with.
As for Jobs in Open Source, who would want one?
I own, run and promote the TurboCASH
Project 16 hours a day. I am a one man business, with user
communities in 80 countries. Hundreds of people work full time in the
TurboCASH project, but none of them have a job. Most have
never even spoken to me. We rarely have meetings and I hardly ever
use a telephone. In a true SME style open source project, it is up to
each participant to get involved and work out what she is going to
take out and how she is going to do it. Very quickly the successful
people learn that the more you put in the more you get out.
The idea of getting a clock card, going
to weekly review meetings, a annual corporate motivation camp and
Christmas dinner and a monthly pay check? Hell No! Thats why we are
beating those 20th century style companies.
As a developer, thank goodness I took
the Red Pill.
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