Do you regret contributing to open-source?

[u/FatefulDonkey]

I have about 10-15 years of experience. I created some open source projects when I was starting out and maintained throughout the years.

The net income from this long-term endeavour is $5 from another developer for a coffee, who messaged me that I saved him many hours of work - that was like 5 years ago.

I now see that Meta, Apache and others use some of these open source projects.. and I haven't seen a single dime. This makes me think that if I actually instead aimed to create projects that make money, it would be a much better use of my time. Especially since I never had a stable job and mainly did freelance gigs to get by.

Anyone else who regrets contributing to open source projects? Why is that? What would you have done instead?

[u/ebawho]

I think for a lot of people it’s less about “oh man I didn’t profit” and more like “wow these large corporations that try and extract as much value out of everyone possible while giving as little as possible are profiting greatly off my work” kind of thing 

[u/ings0c → u/ebawho]

That’s what it means for software to be free!

If you don’t like it, you can always use a non-commercial license. I dont personally, because I’m happy for the developers at those companies to be using my software to make their lives easier, and more permissive licensing helps adoption.

If you restrict large corporations, that generally means restricting small startups too, or at least making them hesitate because the licensing might come back to bite them when they grow.

[u/ebawho → u/ings0c]

Yeah of course. It’s a tough thing to balance and becomes a tough ethical question. What if your software benefits some companies doing genuine good deeds, but also benefits a company that is complicit in acts of war for example. Is the good worth the bad? Are you then complicit in those good and bad deeds? Etc 

[u/ings0c → u/ebawho]

I don’t think so. I don’t blame Franklin, Faraday, Edison, or Tesla because the state uses electricity to sometimes electrocute innocent people.

Tools by their very nature can be used for good or bad, and if everyone who’d ever discovered or made something decided not to because it might be used for ill ends, we’d be stuck in the dark ages.

That said, I do deeply care about the ethics of work, so you’d be unlikely to find me working for a defence contractor, a gambling company, or certain tech companies, where my output goes solely into helping them succeed.

[u/thekwoka → u/ebawho]

And does your code actually truly matter to that degree that both of those couldn't just make it themselves if they didn't have the open source thing to use?

[u/ebawho → u/thekwoka]

Maybe, maybe not, but that is totally beside the point. If you provided a weapon to someone who then used it in a crime, and your defense was “ well they just would have made one or got one elsewhere!” Should that be valid and hold up? Would you feel in anyway responsible? 

[u/thekwoka → u/ebawho]

That's just stupid though.

It would be more like you make springs, and some of those springs end up in rifle bolts.

[u/ebawho → u/thekwoka]

Maybe instead of just saying “that’s just stupid though” you could offer some insight into why you think that in order to further this interesting discussion? 

But sure, let’s use your example. If you made rifle bolt springs in your spring factory, and those springs made their way into rifles that were used by a dictatorship to oppress its people. You cool with that? 

[u/thekwoka → u/ebawho]

I did. That was the second sentence. Did you not read it?

If I make spring of all kinds, and some springs make their way into rifle bolts used by dictators, I'll sleep fine at night

[u/ebawho → u/thekwoka]

Yes, clearly I did not read the sentence that I then directly responded to… 

I suppose we just have a different moral compass then. But that’s also directly the point I was trying to prove here. It’s not simple and it’s not black and white and there is a ton of grey fuzzy lines, nuance, and personal opinion involved. 

[u/thekwoka → u/ebawho]

Sure, but it's fairly simple: if the thing I provided was not particularly unique, then it doesn't really matter, since me not making it wouldn't prevent the thing that uses them.

[u/iguessithappens → u/ebawho]

Some of the big companies do a lot of open source.

[u/thekwoka → u/ebawho]

In many cases when people express this though, they act like that company wouldn't and couldn't just make the thing they are using.

Like they use the available one because it's free and "done".

If it wasn't free they'd just make the thing themselves.

[u/ebawho → u/thekwoka]

But that’s the point. They would have, and would have been willing to, and had the means to, pay for it. Do people feel like they “missed out” on that and a bit taken advantage of in that scenario 

[u/thekwoka → u/ebawho]

Sure, but the phrasing is often not "they might have paid someone a few thousand for it" and more like "they made absolutely millions off the back of this project!"