Myths About Open Source Development

jpkunst writes "A thought-provoking article by chromatic on oreillynet, listing eight "myths" that Open Source developers tell themselves. For example: Myth: Publicly releasing open source code will attract flurries of patches and new contributors. Reality: You'll be lucky to hear from people merely using your code, much less those interested in modifying it."

Comments

myth 9:

[Savatte]

writing open source software will get me laid!

Re:myth 9:

[Penguinshit]

I tell my wife all about my day in the tech world, and she tells me all about her day in the marketing world. Neither of us knows fuck-all about what the other is saying, but it makes for good conversation.

Then we go shag like bunnies...

Publishing your Code Will Attract Many Skilled....

[SharpFang]

It's a myth. And here's a proof:
A few words from a desperate open source coder... /usr/src/linux/Documentation/networking/arcnet.txt :
Since no one seems to listen to me otherwise, perhaps a poem will get your
attention:
This driver's getting fat and beefy,
But my cat is still named Fifi.

Hmm, I think I'm allowed to call that a poem, even though it's only two
lines. Hey, I'm in Computer Science, not English. Give me a break.

The point is: I REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY want to hear from you if
you test this and get it working. Or if you don't. Or anything.

ARCnet 0.32 ALPHA first made it into the Linux kernel 1.1.80 - this was
nice, but after that even FEWER people started writing to me because they
didn't even have to install the patch.

Come on, be a sport! Send me a success report!

(hey, that was even better than my original poem... this is getting bad!)

WARNING:
--------

If you don't e-mail me about your success/failure soon, I may be forced to
start SINGING. And we don't want that, do we?

(You know, it might be argued that I'm pushing this point a little too much.
If you think so, why not flame me in a quick little e-mail? Please also
include the type of card(s) you're using, software, size of network, and
whether it's working or not.)

My e-mail address is: apenwarr@worldvisions.ca

Naw, you have hours to days before engine siezure.

[teidou]

If the oil light comes on, and you don't stop immediately, you will stop in a very expensive way seconds later.

False.

The oil light in my 1990 trooper used to come on regularly because of low oil pressure. After I while, I quit topping it off, always thinking "I'll take care of it tomorrow." The situation went on for weeks before the engine finally siezed.

Of course, the above is strong evidence that I am an idiot.

Re:Headline for the article is a troll

[prockcore]

but not a single person has contacted me and offered to help develop or debug the code.

An optimist would say that this is because your code, through some bizarre statistical anomoly, is perfect and doesn't need any further development or debugging.

A pesimist would say that you are the only one in the world who cares about spectral synthesis of stars undergoing quakes.