On 12/17/2016 08:58 PM, Andrej Rode wrote: > >> Funtoo, knoppix and devuan are not serious professional grade distros, >> two of those are in beta and gentoo isn't something you want on most >> production servers. >> >> You can't be seriously suggesting that hobbyist distros with one or two >> developers and bad security policies is a serious replacement for the >> systemd corrupted distros can you? > > So bascially you want to have a professinal grade distribution developed > by independent hobbyists for free? > Somehow distro maintainers have to be fed and live from something. So > either you have a corporate-free hobbyist distro with a handful of devs > or you have to suck it up and deal with it that people get paid by > companies to develop free software (which is actually a good thing). And > their company can give them directions how to develop free software they > are working on. > > Cheers, > Andrej >
I don't think it's that clear-cut (companies paying for libre software devs == good). Moneyed interests in something *can* be good for both sides, if fair business is conducted. Frankly, most businesses get it wrong, as can be expected from a profit-oriented entity. Paying devs to work on libre software and telling them what to work on, while mostly normal practice in the profit-driven world, can create effects (unintended or otherwise) that guide other software; especially if a business is employing a developer working on pivotal, important projects. A business's direction of that employee can create ripples throughout the rest of the libre software ecosystem that other projects may have to work around or be forced to depend on the corporate work to continue existing. Innocent enough at first, sure. Projects become obsolete or have to change their dependencies all the time. But if a business is targeting specific parts of the stack, replacing it with theirs, and urging others to depend on their new stack, it's blatantly obvious that they're not interested in collaboration or playing fairly. They want to own the stack and every mechanism in it. For what ends, I have no clue. Possibly to peddle their stack as the *only* stack to clients so they can rake in more business while the libre software world gets stuck maintaining it. In short, it's a form of crowd-sourcing labor that they wouldn't otherwise pay for. And the average programmer will fall for it because it makes them feel important and, like the rest of us, has this pesky need for a home, food, and enough cash to save away for emergencies and/or retirement. I agree with your opinion otherwise. It's not reasonable to expect volunteers to be available, on-call, and alert to news 24-7; that's the level of commitment you need to be a serious security worker, and nobody has the spare funds to sit around and stay up to date on stuff without a paycheck coming in. I'm reluctant to point to them, but sports may have a good idea with sponsorships. Some people in libre software could be sponsored, and some companies could sponsor someone in a hands-off fashion, just letting the developer do their thing while the dev does support, consulting, or maybe patches for the company for their internal projects. That's a relationship that could work, though just like any other monetization scheme, it's prone to abuse from the money holder. Maybe CS curricula should have Contract Law 101 or something to protect them from being fleeced or manipulated. The next best model is public sponsorship through platforms like Flattr, Gittip, Patreon, and so on. It gives the developer full autonomy, but a less dependable cash flow. Giving talks and publishing books has been super successful for a few people, but naturally takes up a lot of time and can be draining. Business models aside, the only real fix for this is to get to a post-industrial and post-labor world, where people aren't forced to work to survive. There's no telling how long that will take, however, as those with money naturally want to maintain their powerful position in society. That change won't come peacefully, and unfortunately probably not in our lifetimes. </rant> -- Daniel Campbell - Gentoo Developer OpenPGP Key: 0x1EA055D6 @ hkp://keys.gnupg.net fpr: AE03 9064 AE00 053C 270C 1DE4 6F7A 9091 1EA0 55D6
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