Understanding Open Source Developers
I’ve always seen myself as a software developer in the Bill Gates mold, minus the bad hair days. (Okay, minus the hair, period.) I’m as passionate about programming as the next guy, but money is definitely a major motivator for me as well. So it’s been hard for me to understand the mentality of open source developers who often seem positively repulsed by the slightest whiff of profit.
Working with Mozilla for a couple of years has given me a lot more opportunities to interact with the altruistic coding set, and I think I’ve finally nailed it. Basically if you say to an open source developer, “I’ll give you $1000 to do this,” they’ll look shocked and mumble something about being too busy. But if you say “I’ll bet you $10 you can’t do this,” they won’t sleep or eat until they’ve proven you wrong.
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Hilarious. You’ve got them in a bind - how are they going to prove you wrong this time?
Comment by Neville — 2/27/2007 @ 6:04 pm
Nice joke. Really. But the 1st of this month you respond by mail to a question I asked to you : Hi. We should open the source code this month. .
Can I remember you this month is near over ? Or maybe I should bet you $10 you can’t do this before the end of this month ?
Comment by jMax — 2/27/2007 @ 9:32 pm
We’re ready to go but we’re adding a bit more documentation. We’re targeting the end of the week, so not quite the end of February but pretty close. Remember to hit me up for $10 next time you see me.
Comment by Matt — 2/27/2007 @ 9:37 pm
You nailed it. Exactly.
Comment by pippa — 2/28/2007 @ 2:19 am
Just try to say “I’ll bet you $1000 you can’t do this”
Comment by Daniel Glazman — 3/4/2007 @ 2:38 pm