I've not seen any studies. I have a slightly different view as developing is only part of what I do nowadays... so I'll share it/bore you with it :)
The source isn't the only part, Open applies to a lot more in your standard OSS project: * I like that I can identify solutions and bugs through a web search and not by having to contact technical support. * I like that my choice of the product doesn't start with a contract negotiation - OSS is generally take-it-or-leave-it licensing, yet not an unfair license. * I like that the 'vendor' and myself as the 'customer' largely want the same thing - for the product to be better, with less bugs and more features. Summarizing - In Open Source the relationship is not antagonistic. It's not perfect, the project don't want to add my special ideas or agree that with my view of a bug, but generally I know the vendor and I aren't in a battle with the vendor wanting more money and myself wanting more value. There's less politics. Hen On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 8:37 AM, Grant Ingersoll <gsing...@apache.org> wrote: > One of the things I've noticed in my day job, which is admittedly > self-selecting since I work for a company that engages with people deploying > open source, is that I routinely hear, how shall I say it, more enjoyment > from the developers in their work as compared to the old days when they > worked on a proprietary equivalent, and I think it even holds true when > working on "troubleshooting" engagements where something is broken. Since, > most of us here likely work on open source, I'm curious as to what others > think? Are devs who work on or use open source happier in their day jobs? > And I don't just mean committers/contributors here, I mean people who are > using the software to solve some bigger problem for their company and who may > never do anything more than ask a question on a mailing list from time to > time. Has anyone seen _independent_ studies that say one way or the other? > (References please.) I do think, that some of the answer depends on the > quality of the software they are working on (just as it likely does when > working on proprietary software), so perhaps I should separate out what could > be called hobbyist open source versus open source that has a large community > of followers (regardless of license) like Linux, ASF projects, Eclipse, etc. > Therefore, assuming two different pieces of software, one being proprietary > and one being open, both of which will solve the problem, are developers who > solve the problem with open source happier in their job? > > At any rate, my motivation for asking is that I'm writing an article on some > thoughts in this area spurred by something a client told me (at a very old, > established company, mind you) about why they wanted to get the word out that > they were using open source: they felt it would help them attract and retain > developers b/c they would be more satisfied in their jobs b/c they got to > work on innovative open source technologies. > > Thanks for your insights, > Grant > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: community-unsubscr...@apache.org > For additional commands, e-mail: community-h...@apache.org > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: community-unsubscr...@apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: community-h...@apache.org
