Comment by tsimionescu

Comment by tsimionescu 2 months ago

Many of the most important open source software is developed by paid professionals, not by volunteers. The large open source projects are basically just collaboration efforts between various large tech corps to jointly develop infrastructure that they all need. This is true for Linux, Clang, Kubernetes, KVM, for example. There are some critical bits that are still volunteer work (xz being an infamous recent case), but this is clearly the direction things are going.

mu53 2 months ago

If you took a list of every open source project that FANG-type companies depend on, there are small libraries that don't draw benefit/attention from large companies.

Outdated, less optimal, almost-famous code/libraries/frameworks that businesses still rely on for money and don't want to spend money migrating away from that need various updates for new OS versions, security patches, and those are the maintainers that are underpaid and struggling.

Reply View 4 replies

nkrisc 2 months ago

> Outdated, less optimal, almost-famous code/libraries/frameworks that businesses still rely on for money and don't want to spend money migrating away from that need various updates for new OS versions, security patches, and those are the maintainers that are underpaid and struggling.
They can just not do it if they don’t want to.

Reply View | 0 replies
WJW 2 months ago

Why are the maintainers working for free in the first place if they don't like it? If they're struggling financially, spending a lot of time on charity is not likely to improve the situation.

Reply View | 0 replies
sfn42 2 months ago

Nobody's forcing the maintainer to maintain though. If a company needs updates they can do it themselves or hire the maintainer to do it.

Reply View | 1 reply
- firesteelrain 2 months ago
  
  Right, either the company will continue to reap the benefits of the constant updates, accept the risk, or find another way (paid or free) to do it.
  
  Reply View | 0 replies