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Is Open Source Recession Proof?
DaMan writes "ZDNet asks Is open source recession proof?
'So, how might a recession affect open source software? Well, first off, I think that any business model that relies on volunteers could certainly see interest decline if times get tough. There are a lot of businesses that rely on people working for them for free because they get a pay check somewhere else, and I think that a recession would make people question working without getting any dollars in return.'"
Do they think OSS has a problem with recessions? Quite the reverse.
I got nailed in the Bomb, like a lot of us. Went through 4 companies in 3 years, and only one of them still existed after I left it (for another 3 whole months). Leaves you with nothing but crap on your resume; can't even prove the companies existed, more less get a reference.
I got left with skills that no one wanted, and no money to buy professional tools to start my own business. So I turned to Open Source. I'd hardly used it to that point; hadn't had any real need. But the ability to churn out products using nothing but freely available tools put money in my pocket, let me undercut my competition, and basically saw me through a rough patch. I've never been as active in OSS development as I was in those days...It wasn't because I had so much free time, it was because I needed that stuff, and if it didn't exist, I damn well had to create it!
So they think OSS is something that comes out of people being well off? All of us volunteer because we're all so bored, and have so much money and free time that we just sit around coding things? Are they nuts? Did Linus start programming Linux because he was bored with working with all the fancy Unix code people were throwing at him? No! He started it because he couldn't afford the expensive stuff, so he damn well made his own. Did anyone pay him to do it? No! Did he end up making money off it none-the-less? Yes!
Far from being bad for OSS, recessions are GOOD for OSS. You lose your job, and freelance while looking for another one...What are you going to use? Companies have a need, and no budget to fill it with commercial software...What are they going to use? Sure, if you specialize in zillion dollar OSS deployments, you've got problems (problem #1: You're mythical), but the true strength of OSS isn't in giant deployments, but in filling in the gaps...When the gaps get bigger, there we are.
If you've got a track record of doing more with less, recessions are always a good time for you.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
1) Employees of major corporations assigned to opensource could be laid off or reassigned to directly profitable projects.
2) People who work on opensource in their spare time could be laid off and
a) Be unable to buy computers, maintain an internet connection, etc.
b) OR... have lots of spare time and do a lot of cool stuff to build their resume.
3) Folks who are depressed are not every productive. In a deep recession there will be a lot of fear, anxiety, and depression.
4) Donations to opensource bandwidth, download sites, and so on could falter and lead to blackouts of key opensource resources.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
For open source to succeed, it needs money to host the project (or at least be placed on a "free public" server), and time from volunteers.
A recession may impact the first portion, but as long as there are programmers for the second portion that have free time, development will continue.
There are a lot of businesses that rely on people working for them for free because they get a pay check somewhere else, and I think that a recession would make people question working without getting any dollars in return.'
On the flip side of that, if you have a lot of unemployed coders who want to keep their skill-set up-to-date (as well as avoid a large gap in their work history), open source provides a way to do both.
"There are a lot of businesses that rely on people working for them for free because they get a pay check somewhere else, and I think that a recession would make people question working without getting any dollars in return.'""
If this is your business model then you are doomed to fail.
FOSS is supposed to involve you getting a return for you effort. You should be adding features that your customers want for pay or adding features you need for your own use.
That the idea of how it is supposed to work.
This is one of the reasons why FOSS will not replace all closed source software. Too many freeloaders.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
If you can do anything besides just counting beans, and you stay out of debt, you are recession proof.
What?
If you are talking about the development and evangelization of Open Source, then I would say yes. People are going to volunteer regardless. However, when you are talking about companies that sell or service Open Source software, then I would say no...it is not recession-proof. Economics are economics, and money is the same everywhere. Where there is a crunch, money doesn't flow as freely, and both Open Source and proprietary models will suffer.
Now...had they have said "Is FREE software recession-proof" then I would say, "yes...it is."
I'm not a troll, but I play one on Slashdot.
What's the point of the original message? "You get less job opportunities from developing for OSS when there's little need for developers".
Ok. And if you're working on CSS? What's more likely, that some OSS goes "out of business" or your proprietary company? Like someone else has already posted, what is more likely to be used in times of little money, software to buy or software to take?
Not to mention that, well, when you have more spare time (because you're lacking a job), wouldn't it be a quite GOOD idea to develop some nifty piece of software, push it into OSS and find companies interested in using it AND hiring the guy who knows it best?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Developers who find themselves unemployed might suddenly be _more_ willing to work on OSS projects. It's a way to keep one's skills sharp and to stay involved in the profession. Obviously job hunting is a #1 priority for someone who's unemployed, but volunteering for a project is also a good idea for lots of reasons.
I know if I lost my job, I would seriously considered joining a project. Right now my priorities are 1) family, 2) job, 3) everything else.
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
Umm... yes?
Because, unlike closed source solutions, when the company that was bankrolling the development of your favorite programs, someone else can still pick it up and run with it.
Because, unlike closed source solutions, you aren't reliant on solely one entity to provide assitance.
Because, unlike closed source solutions, even if no one is developing the software actively beyond bug patches, it's still avaliable.
Open source does not 'rely on volunteers'. It relies on people needing software to improve their business, which applies to proprietary software as well.
When I was unemployed I had a lot of spare time to code on free software. Now when I have a full time job - not so much.
You don't need an income to contribute to free software, just a computer and usually some sort of internet connection.
However: Notice how I use "free software" instead of "open source" - When the Web 2.0 bubble comes, it doesn't matter if you can just look at the source code from the tool you used after the company went bankrupt. You need to have the legal rights to keep modifying it and/or let someone else do it.
c++;
I will carry on working on whichever projects I need to as long as I keep a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs.
If I have enough time left to make my pet project better I will do, but don't expect me to go hungry to help you.
Infact, I see a lot more bounties being put out on features (I was offered $10 for a minor example in Python last night)
liqbase
Reminds me of something from the movie: "Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof." I think open source is much the same way. Most of the folks working on open source projects are not doing so out of boredom, they are doing so out of love or ideology. Neither of those changes because the economy has gotten a little bad. In fact, you could see quite the opposite. Out of work for a couple of months, need to keep those programming skills sharp? Join an OSS project and do some code contributing and bug fixing.
The more you know, the more you realize how much you don't know.
Of course nobody wanted it that way. But when some Wall Street firms lost data centers and desktops, Sun, IBM, and HP couldn't make hardware fast enough. So, beige boxes all over the east ended up in ad-hoc data centers, running Linux or BSD. And surprise, they ran as well, often better than their predecessors.
Open Source is going to do well whenever IT can't pay a lot for software and has to stretch its budget. Good times might be worse for Open Source, but I don't see them being terrible for it.
Bruce
Bruce Perens.
Open source is software written by geeks for geeks. Some of it may happen to gain marketshare but that is not important, even less a goal.
Hasn't open source already gone through a few recessions? Wasn't Linux started in a recession? Of course I guess it depends on what Country you are talking about. The major apps have enough cross country development going on that I don't think it would matter much.
What a goofy question.
The Open Source movement has been around how long now - 20 years? 30? Longer? Recessions have come and gone, the movement has only grown.
You only have to look at the 1999-2001 period to see that Open Source can not onyl survive a recession but thrive in it.
I would expect the number of projects to go down, and the quality of those that remain to go up.
High quality free and open source contributions are great resume/CV items. It's an impressive way to stand out from the crowd. If people have to compete harder for jobs then we might see more. Remember, it doesn't have to be program code. Excellent posts on question and answer websites also impress employers. On the other hand, I imagine many free and open source projects depend upon goodwill to keep them going, such as server space. If times are tougher then there might be less hosting to go round.
So overall a shake-out could be a good thing - weaker projects could be forgotten, while the better ones might get better.
...with a recession someone will be more attracted by free software (this time as in 'free beer')
CTRL + F Funny ---> I had you!!!
Recessions aren't supposed to happen based on Keynesian theory since all the worlds' governments and their central banks have been creating credit in a rate almost never seen before on the global scale. Print money, create jobs, right? Of course, the reality is that the central banks have been creating credit for one specific reason: to transfer wealth from the poor and middle class to the bank-connected elites.
There is no recession -- it's just part of the cycle of credit expansion/contraction that occurs to regularly shift our future wealth to those who have been taking advantage of that credit creation since the 70s, if not earlier. Look at it this way: all that lovely money that was created via credit expansion, and then spent, still exists. If you took a $200,000 HELOC on your home that is now worth $100,000, you likely spent that $200,000 somewhere (Hummer, cruises, clothes, electronic gadgets, new porch, etc). The money didn't just cancel out the debt that was created -- it was spent, and it lined someone's pockets.
The wealthy have been hoarding money for decades. Stick it in the mattress, in the vault, anywhere but in a savings account or in the market where the money would stay in the economies, keeping them at least operating. Now, credit is tight, because those who have it don't want to risk letting the middle class earn it to invest it in their own wealth-growth schemes.
Open Source is likely the sector MOST hurt by a credit crunch. Those without a connection to the IP-monopolized software sector will have a tough time borrowing to develop new software, pay for payrolls, or expand their marketing budgets. They money exists, but it's not easily loaned out until the credit crunch creates a new legion of people who are desperate for a little more debt accessibility. The OSS community may not operate on debt, but I'd doubt it. Most people I know, including small business owners, wouldn't have a meal in their fridge if it wasn't for easy credit.
My business, which generally stays away from OSS, operates on a positive cashflow, paying dividends to its owners, who also operate on a positive cashflow. The software sectors that will stay afloat during a credit crunch are those who are cash positive, and are in no rush to spend it until there are deals to be had.
I can't wait for a big recession, or even a depression. I sat on the sidelines on home ownership for 3 years, and finally bought again this year (after selling 3 years ago at near peak) for 1X my annual income. Easy as pie. In terms of business, I know many little IT companies and marketing companies that are on the verge of falling apart. They have assets, and client books, that are worth significant prices, but since no one is spending right now, their value is dropping. Thankfully, those of us who saved instead of spent, and contracted instead of expanded during a bubble, will have cash that is worth MUCH more than it was worth 2 or 3 years ago.
So it isn't specific sectors that will get hurt or gain ground -- nearly everyone who existed with a negative cashflow or a debt-maintained business plan will get hurt. Their values will drop, and those who held cash or fully-owned assets (land, commercial property, gold, etc) will be ready to swoop in and pick up valuable assets at a deep discount.
Back in the dotcom/dotbomb days, I also stayed on the sidelines. All of my competitors were spinning "Y2K!!!" marketing garbage to clients, who spent lots of money on a non-issue. We, instead, told people it was a non-issue. We didn't go public, try to create useless software, or expand more than 10-15% per year in size. When the SHTF, there were MANY assets we picked up for pennies on the dollar when things exploded.
So if you're an OSS or a closed-source developer, and you're hurting, remember for the next time another bubble grows: stay out of it. Hold cash, pay off your debts faster than you think you should, and be ready for the mass price cuts on things you wanted to buy when you origi
If the recession is relatively short, and some folks are out of work for only a few months, it could have a positive impact on various open source projects, as folks work on those while receiving unemployment checks. But if the recession is longer, the even the open source market could be hurt, as people are not going to want to work for free too long, and really need to start actually making money.
Recession equals increase in unemployed programmers...
:P
Increase in unemployed programmers lead to an increase in free time available to programmers to work on open-source projects.
Thus recessions are a boon for open-source software. The bane of open source software is a good economy.
People do not always react logically. There is a good chance there will be a recession and a lot of people will lose jobs and look at ways to cut costs. The question is is whether they will see FOSS as a valid choice in that. As it is, I suspect the vast majority of people will not. The thing is, in the more general population, FOSS/Linux/Whatever just plain has 0 visibility. It won't grow because people don't even understand it/recognize it as an option. This is changing. As Dell offers it on their Walmart PCs and businesses adopt Linux desktops, people will become aware of it as an option. The real question is whether or not FOSS will become visible enough to the public eye and mind in time. Why 'in time'? I do believe that a lot of things, from volunteers times to bandwidth to development hours put in will be reduced by a recession. The less people have the less they have to give. It's nice to think that programmers who lose jobs will sit at home and code on FOSS projects all day but more likely is that they'll spend time looking for jobs, doing household tasks they'd otherwise hire people to do, and even accept other work part-time until they can find a 'real' job. Donations will slack off as purchasing power drops. That is the race that must be won. Between getting the FOSS into the public sector with enough visibility to have it widely adopted before those who support it cease, at least in part, in order to focus on more immediate personal issues. It could go either way, I believe. This could lead to explosive, radiating growth, or a die-off.
Sure it is... maybe this is a nice moment to remind everyone that the world is bigger than just the USA. There's other countries that will trive in spite of any recession in the USA.
There are loads of projects that are being run outside of the USA (Ubuntu etc.)
I don't think OSS contributors are driven by money (the vast majority I would say are not) so I don't see that their having financial troubles would affect whether they're willing to contribute to an OSS project or not. Indeed, I think that if some of them got laid off, in between looking for a new gig (and possibly as a resume enhancing exercise) they might contribute some of that newly-spare time to working on their pet project(s). After all, if you're sitting home trolling for a job, once you've done your daily search/apply/despair thing, don't you have another seven hours to spend "working" on something you care about?
In fact, one reason OSS software is "recession proof" is because it's (mostly) done for love rather than money. If OSS projects relied on the state of the economy, that would be one thing, but a lot of OSS projects are things that people are working on because they want to, rather than have to to put food on the table.
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If an employer pays you to work on an open source project, but they never distribute that project since it is for in-house use, can you legally take your work with you when you go? Experience, sure they can't keep that, but the actual code, changes and fixes, would belong to the employer?
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
Something just clicked (based on what you've said)...
When I went to University and learnt all about chemistry and physics and management and other engineeringy type stuff, all that knowledge was pretty much open source. At least, it was available in any good library.
Once I got out of there, I basically was making money from the understanding I had of this 'open source' knowledge - by applying it to fulfilling a specific customer's (or employer's) needs.
That's a really good point you make - I'd never thought of it like that.
Genesis 1:32 And God typed
It could also be the opposite, because we geeks don't shut off our brains when we're unemployed. We need to do something, and joining some Free Software project could be just the thing to a) keep us occupied, b) train our skills and thus c) improve our chances to get a new job.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
You know?
During the bursting of the bubble I suddenly found myself with all sorts of extra time to spend on Open Source projects. Not so today.
I bet that a recession would be *good* for OSS.
We do have some experience with free software in times of recession.
Free software support companies typically do well during a recession, as it makes business more aware on cost. Buzzwords become less important to business decisions, and even TCO arguments have less weight compared to a saving here and now.
Most important free software is created by full time professionals, not hobbyists or people who do it part time as part of another job. The later two groups are not really affected at all, you don't drop your (free!) hobby because of a recession, nor does your employer stop using free software (see above), so that part of your work is as important as always.
The one place where I can see a problem is with companies that use free software as a loss leader, they might get scared and withdraw support. And that is a relatively new phenomena. Is Star Office a loss leader for Sun?
During the dot-com bust, the slogan for Microsoft's server product advertising was "Do More With Less." They knew that everyone was doing business on a shoestring -- something that open source running on old hardware did exceedingly well. And they were desperate to try to fool people into thinking that running expensive Windows Server on expensive new hardware was just as cheap. They weren't really successful in fooling anyone. Open source excelled during the bust because of its economy, and there is no reason to believe that it won't do just as well if there were to be a recession.
Will there be a recession? With a big election coming up this year, there are a lot of people who would like you to believe that the economy is already sliding. Don't believe it.
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OSS is the antithesis of the profit model. The only reason people make money from OSS is because money still exists, and is a necessity. In a more spiritually mature society, people will give of their talents and abilities freely, and those that seek profit margin from the work of others will be marginalized and neutralized.
What's so wonderful about OSS is that it is a glimmer of the future, and what that future holds. If a recession comes, and it looks like its coming, people will continue on, using whatever's available to them. The companies that put making money before all else will be the ones to suffer, and as they suffer, they'll insure that others suffer with them (or for them). Nonetheless, when the depression came, people turned to farming and living in self-sustaining environments as much as they could, same with OSS, people will use the tools that are as freely available as possible. I believe, however, that this will only widen the gap between rich and poor, but the poor will have more powerful tools available, alive with creativity and originality, while the greedy continue to inbreed and die out.
If you have a bunch of unemployed programmers, collecting unemployment, don't you think they might not be, um programming? If anything, a recession would spur open source because you can get someone on the web for a lot cheaper in real dollars than any warm and fuzzy Windows would get you into.
This is my sig.
Open source software is not necessarily created by volunteers. In fact, I suspect that the most popular open source projects are coded by paid programmers, using donations from private industry. Consortiums often fund open source projects so that they can undermine a competitive entity (such as MS). Thus, for these projects - and I think these are the largest ones - there is a definite commercial incentive. Such efforts are not efforts of volunteers. The volunteers come in mostly on the small 1-3 person projects - including all the half-abandoned ones on sourceforge.
Not only is FOSS recession proof, it thrives during a recession. It's like the programmer's equivalent of hitting rock bottom with no end in sight, putting on a funny hat, and asking "Do you want fries with that?".
Well, except writing FOSS is unpaid, so it's actually worse thant McDonalds. But hey... why choose when you can do both!
Do we really need to apply those non-issue quantifiers to open source, over and over again?
The IT people that get laid off will just have more time to write more Open Source... if Open Source seems to be dwindling I would think that would be a sign that things are good for IT careers since they are too busing working their 9-5 job to be able to write open source software.
It is notable that most periods of recession are marked by an upsurge in community activity - streets, neighbourhoods and whole regions hit the dole and find support in other people who are in that situation. I think that that has interesting potential now.
We haven't had a real, real recession in the West since before everyone and their dog was using PCs. Given the growing profile of open source software and the increased reliance on, nay, ubiquity of mobile phones in general society, I would imagine that those who are not actually starving will be well into open source. It's free, it is community-based, it allows near-anonimity for most people - it's great!
As long as unemployed geeks (no offense meant, as I am one as well) can afford a place to live and Internet access, I predict they will continue to develop their favorite projects.
Fixed.
I would think most open-source DEVELOPMENT would be unhindered if not enhanced because all those out-of-work nerds who are coding away in their free time have much more time to work on that OSS project when they're laid off...
There will always be open source software. It might languish during a recession, but it won't go away. And I suspect that out of work programmers will work on OSS regardless. It will show they are keeping their skills up in hopes they'll get a better paying job when the recession is over with.
"You'll get nothing, and you'll like it!"
First, I don't see a recession hitting tech. This is not 2001. I'm at a growing company and I can't hire the LAMP developers we need even with an attractive package.
Secondly, in 2001, when my company went bankrupt under the debt load of capital investments it made that didn't pan out because of the crash, I took time off (I could afford it, thankfully) and decided to write an e-commerce package (since I knew a couple people who wanted to use it). I released it open source; some people downloaded it, used it, and referred their clients to me for more advanced consulting. I built up a ~fulltime consulting practice without an ounce of any promotion outside of that release, making a pretty good rate. Eventually I was offered a job that was too good to refuse from one of my clients. Although I stopped releasing versions open source because I got about 100 tech questions for every patch, I still think of that experience as an "open source success story". People used the software, I got a consulting practice and a pretty good gig, all doing something that was interesting to me.
For all the uneducated masses like me who didn't know what the hell CV standed for, it stands for "curriculum vitæ" or everyone else in the english world just says Resume.
Bye!
he doesn't know much about the OSS culture. He sees the business end, but does he know the "gift culture" OSS lives in? Yeah, developers do it for the bullet points on their CV, but also because they can. They develop because they can. Some of us see OSS as the utopia where free information exchange is happening and commerce is less important. I agree that smaller project might see volunteers dry up as they spend their time job seeking. I do not agree that hardware vendors will see a recession and stop Linux driver development. Do they make their money from drivers? Or do they need to support the growing numbers of Linux users in their customer base? Do developers of Linux drivers make OSS drivers? (*caugh* *ATI* *caugh*) Do those developers get paid or are they volunteer? Are all OSS developers volunteer? See - he doesn't seem to know that money can be made from open source. Just because I publish my code doesn't mean my customers can use it on their own. Otherwise, they might not have contracted me.
Power to the Penguin!
Or, as our priest put it yesterday, "A swimmer is drowning 100 feet from shore. A conservative throws a lifesaver on a 50 foot rope, and yells at them to swim half way. A liberal sees them, calls the conservative hard hearted, and throws a lifesaver all the way to the drowning man - at the end of a 200 foot rope, and pats himself smugly on the back while holding the other end."
I say that OpenSource survived the crisis in the 1990s and in the 2000 and still alive and well so thats all the examples you need
Check out Slashdot userid: homelessinlajolla. This is one geek who can't do this. So how can you afford a place and internet access (and electricity to power it). Not to mention some food to power you.
5) Struggling businesses looking to save any costs they can might actually consider switching from MS Office to OpenOffice and perhaps even making the big switch from Windows to Linux. At the very least, it will certainly slow the adoption of Vista (as if it wasn't slow enough already) which can only help Open Source.
Support Right To Repair Legislation.
Well, in 2001 things got ugly. A lot of users who would have supported free software in 2000 were suddenly laid off and protesting anything that could put them out of work. The other problem was everyone was doing it, so it wasn't noble to volunteer your time anymore. You had to start offering real value for the time users would spend downloading it or take it down.
Actually, the US dollar is plummeting because of a very costly military expense. To pay for it, the US Treasury Department has been pumping out tons and tons of US dollars.
Check the budget stats:
http://useconomy.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=useconomy&cdn=newsissues&tm=18&gps=156_62_1036_445&f=00&tt=11&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2008/summarytables.html
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Copyright infringement is "piracy" in the same way DRM is "consumer rape"
Yeah, developers do it for the bullet points on their CV, but also because they can.
The CV point is very important. During a recession, when the job market is more competitive, getting some nice development projects on your CV can't hurt. And, assuming you're good, a potential employer can see exactly how good you are *today*, rather than relying on a project you worked on when times were good four years ago.
Just a thought.
Microsoft is to software what Budweiser is to beer.
get paid in dollars? I'm British, you insensitive clod!
"Neo, follow the white rabbit"
"Can i eat the white rabbit?"
"No, there is no spoon to eat it with"
The question is valid though - since there is a possibility that we are going to get a really bad crash due to energy shortage...
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
A recession will have people laid off that needs to keep their skills fresh and useful. Combined with lots of spare time i would suppose it creates a status quo compared to when the times are good.
HTTP/1.1 400
There are rare exceptions but you can list them on a single sheet of paper. That is hardly enough to encourage people to venture into FOSS to make a living. Do FOSS because you _want_ to, because you love developing software or because you know that you can fix a problem that few others can. But don't chance your family's interests on FOSS.
What kind of people is ZDNet employing these days. This question seems on par with, "Could a night crawler get sun burn?"
- Those developing in their spare time because it's fun
I work on OSS in my spare time and padding my CV is definitely not my motivation. The article also said something about a recession making people reconsider if working for free was still a good idea. For the above group of people, that's totally irrelevant.Or, at least it looks better than Vista, or Mac.
Assuming that supply will follow demand, a recession might be good for f/oss.
I'm working at a startup now. Why can't you get a reference? You get references from people, not companies. Did the people you worked with also evaporate when the company bombed?
This is the wrong question. Of course a recession would impact OSS, how could it not? OSS is written by people and people aren't "recession proof".
The right question would be "Is OSS more recession proof than CSS?" and that, my friends, is a job question best left to the economists and other psychics.
As for the original question about switching to Linux from MS as we (theoretically?) head into a recession a dangerous move, I would say no, if a recession was bad enough kill off Linux, I expect that even MSFT with it's deep pockets would be lucky to survive.
When you don't make any money, I guess you could call that recession proof.
In Europe, there's no problem (and need I talk about China ?).
:-)
Fix your problem, vote for a presidential candidate that actually has a chance to talk to some experienced economic advisors (her husband's - remember the Clinton years: a healthy economy and a government budget surplus).
See you in 2016
Open source is recession proof in the same way that unemployment is recession proof.
Business built on open source might suffer in a recession, like any business. And yes, of course, some development of some projects might slow down or even cease. Lots of things suffer in recession.
But the code is still available, ready to be picked up again if anyone is still interested. Open source is not a business model, although you can build business models around it.
Most of the comments on this story seem to be looking at this question from the view of a programmer. There is a more important view. Look at it from the point of view of a user. 6 months at latest, the programmers all have other jobs. The users, though are just screwed.
The biggest problem for a user in a recession is that the vendor goes belly up. It's bad for the former employees, it's a disaster for those who depended on the product. Open Source Software (or Libre/Free Software) removes this worry. The product will continue for as long as a reasonable group of people continue to have a use for it.
Yes, Open Source is recession proof. I wonder if Proprietary Software is too?
I know I'd really hate to have my business depending on abandonware.
Everybody knows 3 people with my name.
My experience is that people who lost their jobs after the dotcom bomb often spent some time contributing to open source projects, also to keep up with technologies and to network. So, recession isn't necessarily bad for open source.
It seems everyone is forgetting that it was a consumer asking the question. A consumer doesn't really care if the entity who created their software stops development or support for a while. No regular consumer gets any real support from the original manufacturer of a program anyway. Almost all of the commercial software developers now rely on "community support" through forums rather than direct support anyway. Most regular consumers get their support from whoever installed the software, whether that be a friend, a store, or the smart person in the family. That person knows the best source of support is Usenet or other online forums. Most regular consumers buy one version of a program and then don't update it for years. If the coming recession lasts longer than the standard upgrade cycle of most consumers - about 5 years in my experience - then which distribution model is most "recession proof" will be the least of our worries. Finally, anyone who is thinking of "switching" to open source is under no obligation to totally abandon all the software they have already purchased. Anyone who does so is making a "religious" decision rather than a rational one.
Ask Ted McGinley.
http://www.jumptheshark.com/forum/Ted-Mcginley/22
"Ted is the patron saint of shark jumping. Chances are that if Ted is anywhere near your cast, consider the show on the downward spiral. That's not to take away from Ted's fine acting skills. Consensus here enjoys Ted more on the big screen (Revenge of the Nerds) than on our sets. Then again, we wouldn't have a patron saint...thanks Ted!"
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
"I am talking about breathtakingly rude complainers who hold those who write software in their free time accountable for missing features, etc., as though they were paid to do it. They're not."
So how about enlisting "Filterers" who don't have your coding skills, but are good at processing language?
Except for the roughest of trolls who aren't actually upset with the software but are looking for attention, "rude users" simply don't have the vocabulary to express their frustration.
These folks could translate rude comments into bug reports.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
In really tough times all that Open Source software will be used instead of proprietary products that many groups cannot afford. The Commons of reuseable code and generally information that increases in value in proportion to how many use it will become vastly more appreciated. Avoiding duplicated effort and artificial barriers are much more important when you don't have resources to waste. We might come out of such with a much keener idea of what really works best in a Commons and open to all and what does not.
Only an open source religionist or his fellating sycophants would ask or care about such a question.
A recession will actually help Open Source. Some Developers will unfortunately lose their job. To gain a competitive over other employees and to fine-tune their programming skills and get their name known, they will contribute to open source projects.
Visit http://www.kaizenlog.com
You're a nut job. You refuse to actually read what I wrote, and you regurgitate the same argument even though you're actually agreeing with half of what I said.
I said, RIGHT IN MY LAST POST, you CAN SELL FOSS. There's nothing wrong with it. But I guess what you don't realize is that if I buy GPL software from you, I can give it to the world and charge nothing, and give you nothing. In fact, I could sell your software, and charge whatever I want. Of course, the next guy could do the same thing.
One of the points I MADE was that some people make money from charging people to do bug fixes or feature enhancements. Nothing wrong with that, I think it's a good idea.
"You want a developer to spend his time and effort on a project and not even get a thank you in return."
Wait, who said that? I know it wasn't me, so what the fuck are you talking about? Personally, I don't give a shit what a programmer does. If they choose to release their software GPL, then they should expect nothing in return. I've thanked and helped a bunch of OSS project members, but I never felt it was because it was REQUIRED. And they didn't ask for it, like you do.
"am saying that if you use a FOSS program that you should at least thank the developers, help other users, blah blah barf barf"
Then put it in the damned license. "This is a modified GPLv2 which requires that you give thanks to the programmers before using this software." I mean, god damn, if that's what you want, do THAT. Otherwise, keep your fucking mouth shut, and PLEASE don't write FOSS. We don't need whiny bitches like you complaining that you don't get enough money or kissass for what you do.
What's funny is that through all this, you STILL DON'T GET IT and since I can't win an argument with an ignorant man, I'll stop.
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
All 19 hijackers were known terrorists 09-10-2001. Lack of FBI intelligence does not justify warrantless wiretaps..
Methinks you could recommend a qualified expert for the procedure.
All 19 hijackers were known terrorists 09-10-2001. Lack of FBI intelligence does not justify warrantless wiretaps..