> Some devs are in it for the passion, some for the experience, some for the challenge, some for the learning, some so their work will live on when they change employers.
Sure, but what about people who could write code, help with docs, testing etc., but can't because of the current financial disincentives to do that?
With these current circumstances, i cannot be in my right mind and decide to meaningfully commit to open source, apart from small bug fixes or something, unless i want to miss out on spending time with family or anything else over the evenings and weekends, because my day job takes up the rest of my time.
Sure, you can talk about that particular salary number (though it's similar for many people in Eastern Europe, India and many other places), or talk about how i should try to convince my management to allow me to contribute to open source (which is a non starter in many circumstances), but at the end of the day it'd be like quitting my job because i want to develop a video game or something without having a clear plan on how to make money and just vague hopes and dreams instead (which i've seen often as well). For example, i'd have to give up freelancing to do that, which would just further hurt my finances.
Open source isn't a financially responsible choice for many non-privileged folks out there (e.g. company doesn't invest in it, don't have savings to avoid having to live paycheck to paycheck). Just look at this comment in the other thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29525272
> The default is that no one will use your thing, no one will contribute, no one will fund you, etc.
In my eyes, doing meaningful work is logically supposed to be followed by not being punished for it, such as not having to starve or be homeless (maybe the "just world" fallacy on my part). No one should be able to praise the open source devs for their work and then just turn around in that same sentence and shun them for wanting to be supported financially for doing that, or claim that these incentives are not valid in some way.
Sure, but what about people who could write code, help with docs, testing etc., but can't because of the current financial disincentives to do that?
With my current salary in my country, i make around $21k a year, about which i wrote here (including information about my savings): https://blog.kronis.dev/articles/on-finances-and-savings
With these current circumstances, i cannot be in my right mind and decide to meaningfully commit to open source, apart from small bug fixes or something, unless i want to miss out on spending time with family or anything else over the evenings and weekends, because my day job takes up the rest of my time.
Sure, you can talk about that particular salary number (though it's similar for many people in Eastern Europe, India and many other places), or talk about how i should try to convince my management to allow me to contribute to open source (which is a non starter in many circumstances), but at the end of the day it'd be like quitting my job because i want to develop a video game or something without having a clear plan on how to make money and just vague hopes and dreams instead (which i've seen often as well). For example, i'd have to give up freelancing to do that, which would just further hurt my finances.
I commented on another thread here, but just look at this: https://staltz.com/software-below-the-poverty-line.html
Open source isn't a financially responsible choice for many non-privileged folks out there (e.g. company doesn't invest in it, don't have savings to avoid having to live paycheck to paycheck). Just look at this comment in the other thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29525272
> The default is that no one will use your thing, no one will contribute, no one will fund you, etc.
In my eyes, doing meaningful work is logically supposed to be followed by not being punished for it, such as not having to starve or be homeless (maybe the "just world" fallacy on my part). No one should be able to praise the open source devs for their work and then just turn around in that same sentence and shun them for wanting to be supported financially for doing that, or claim that these incentives are not valid in some way.