Katharine Have you looked at the Microsoft projects: ASP.NET, Entity Framework, Azure stuff .. all of these are open source (Apache Licensed) that take contributions from the community.
And then there are the myriad of .NET projects in Github & Codeplex that the community relies on: JSON.NET et al. Or you could help write kernel drivers for Linux/BSD for Hyper-V & Azure... or create VHDs for Azure. The open source vs Microsoft argument is somewhat dated. And then there is the whole Xamarin/Mono world which is clamoring for great .NET/C# devs to get things going in Unix environments. I agree with what Stephen said: do what makes you happy. There is enough bad cr*p you have to deal with in this world so at least enjoy coding & the community. And by community it is learning from others, teaching those who need help and contributing to a better world. My thoughts, anyway Nick (and yes, I do contribute: https://github.com/nickhodge/ :) ) From: ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com [mailto:ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com] On Behalf Of Stephen Price Sent: Tuesday, 9 July 2013 12:34 PM To: ozDotNet Subject: Re: the Open Source community for .NET developers: the value of joining and developing OS VS. for-proffit development ah ok. Only reason you would hide your code is if it is a secret, as in part of your business intellectual property. An algorithm, or whatever that no one else has, and that sets you apart from your competition. It is important from a business perspective to keep what's yours as yours. Arguably, I guess. That would be situations where your income comes from your product and that people are prepared to pay for it because no one else can do what your product does. You can make money from selling your time, or a product, or for providing a service. When you say hiding your code I assume you mean closed source versus open source. It's not truly hidden unless you go to great lengths to obfuscate it. It's not a bad thing to want to protect your IP. Same as its not a bad thing to want to have open source code. Really depends what you are trying to do. As for making money from coding, yeah there are numerous ways. There's apps in market place, Ads, freeware, Shareware. In app purchases, and donations. Contracting and Permanent jobs for someone else. Write a product or service and charge people to use it. All part of the excitement and challenge of working as a developer. :) So yes I agree there's more than hiding your code and charging for your stuff. I do detect a hint of judgement or invalidation against hiding your code and charging for it. It's not right or wrong, but thinking makes it so. On Tue, Jul 9, 2013 at 9:48 AM, Katherine Moss <katherine.m...@gordon.edu<mailto:katherine.m...@gordon.edu>> wrote: I told you guys that I have no interest in starting a business with development (try web hosting instead?). . I'm more interested in having fun as a developer and joining with other developers who need no more reward than community values and doing stuff for the community; I feel that .net projects that are really good with the acception of web applications are truly lacking in the open Source world. And I don't mind paying for visual studio since for now I have a version that's a holdover from DreamSpark until I get strong enough to program out in the open, and hopefully by then I'll have a good job. Technology for me is a lifestyle, so I feel that if I'm doing one thing as a job as well as for a hobby (administration works in both places for me with my server, could be more in the future), then the other one I could do for the os community; there are tons of projects that need a hand out there. What I'm asking more or less, is whether you guys agree with the premise that there are more ways to make money developing other than hiding your code and charging for your stuff. From: ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com<mailto:ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com> [mailto:ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com<mailto:ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com>] On Behalf Of Stephen Price Sent: Monday, July 08, 2013 9:25 PM To: ozDotNet Subject: Re: the Open Source community for .NET developers: the value of joining and developing OS VS. for-proffit development I'd suggest to try each and see what sits best for you personally. :) Some projects won't earn any money but might be more fun because of the project itself. Other projects might earn you money but require more of your time, or might not be as interesting or challenging. It really varies. You might also find your situation requires you to spend more of your time on the money earning than the fun community based stuff. You have to eat after all. I consider myself lucky to have such a job that I enjoy. Many people don't. At some point you may find yourself as a developer by trade, and a developer for fun. Or perhaps some other hobby that's not computer related. Life is too short to be doing stuff you don't love. Outsource the rest! :) On Tue, Jul 9, 2013 at 7:35 AM, Nathan Chere <nathan.ch...@saiglobal.com<mailto:nathan.ch...@saiglobal.com>> wrote: This sounds like a job for BizSpark: http://www.microsoft.com/bizspark/ Essentially free access to all the MS stack development tools you could possibly need for 3 years while you get your business up and running. Buy licenses for what you use at the end of the 3 years if it takes off, no loss if it doesn't (there used to be a $100 "exit fee" but they scrapped it). -----Original Message----- From: ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com<mailto:ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com> [mailto:ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com<mailto:ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com>] On Behalf Of Katherine Moss Sent: Tuesday, 9 July 2013 8:24 AM To: ozdotnet@ozdotnet.com<mailto:ozdotnet@ozdotnet.com> Subject: the Open Source community for .NET developers: the value of joining and developing OS VS. for-proffit development Hello all, This question is one that I'm wrestling with right now. As I'm learning to develop with C# and PowerShell (I want my first project to be a PowerShell-based SSH client with some of the already-developed libraries for the protocol at its core), I see a lot of places where I could eventually join the .Net community as an open source developer (helping other projects and volunteering my time where other projects need a hand) and earn money through donations and through support contracts if my own personal project ideas ever take off. I'm definitely getting there though, I know that. But how do you decide based on the cost of development software (Visual Studio Professional 2012 and TFS 2012, or in my case, the express version of TFS used for CI and hooked up to a CodePlex either Git or TFS but probably TFS repository), and weigh the costs against going entirely for-proffit, in other words, closed source, proprietary development? I like the idea of Open Source because it allows the code to be available for everyone, especially if you find that you are already working at a job you love, right? So do you weigh the benefits and drawbacks of the Open Source community based on how much time you want to spend on a project? (though I don't think that should be the only factor; some of the best software in my opinion is not from the commercial market but from the OS community). Thanks all for your thoughts; I'm really trying to decide this; I see myself as an administrator by trade and a developer for the fun and enjoyment of it. This message has been scanned for malware by Websense. www.websense.com<http://www.websense.com>
