Development quotes of the week [LWN.net]

Many of us live in capitalist societies. One of the ways you show respect for someone’s labor is by paying them for it. This isn’t to say I think all FOSS contributions should be paid (though some argue they ought to be!), but that certain things require levels of dedication that go significantly above and beyond that which is reasonable. Our free software leaders are incredible, and we need to change how we recognize that.

— Molly de Blanc

Of course, for the person who starts with the conclusion that "it's not possible," no amount of evidence is ever going to be enough—and to that person, I say: "What do you want to see now?" Not because it will change their mind, but because it's a fertile source of inspiration for me.

— Josh Wulf

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Development quotes of the week

Posted May 23, 2019 10:10 UTC (Thu) by ballombe (subscriber, #9523) [Link] (2 responses)

I do not think I am the only one who is interest in free software because in some way it breaks with the capitalist expectation that money is the ultimate value... I am not interested in self-proclaimed leaders that want to reinstate it.

Development quotes of the week

Posted May 23, 2019 17:30 UTC (Thu) by nilsmeyer (guest, #122604) [Link]

I would say there is a difference between profit maximization and fair compensation.

Development quotes of the week

Posted May 23, 2019 19:51 UTC (Thu) by karkhaz (subscriber, #99844) [Link]

I don't think the author wants to reimburse free software leaders because she wants to reinstate the expectation that money is the ultimate value. It's more about ensuring that you can have leaders who are not representing corporate interests, since if you don't pay the leaders, the only people who will lead are people who are paid to by rich corporations.

The LWN quote and the title of the original article are about lack of money, but I actually found the other issue raised in the article more interesting---lack of time. Even if you pay free software leaders (or any other free software participant), the fact remains that you need to have fairly specific life circumstances to contribute to free software outside of a dayjob...that seems like a much more difficult problem to solve IMHO.