What Does It Mean To Be an Open Source Author?

lolococo writes to tell us that Laurent Cohen, founder of the open source project JPPF (Java Parallel Processing Framework), has decided to share what life is like for an open source contributor in general and little bit about what that means. "There came a time of coding, releasing, coding, releasing. The project started gathering some momentum, as a small community of users started to use it, but why was it not working in this case, or why did it not have this feature, or how could I do this, etc...? You get the drift. Oh my, now I had to start interacting with other folks! What was I to do? That started a (thankfully short) period of intense existential self-questioning. What was the purpose of this project? Why did I actually open-source it? I resolved this by deciding unilaterally that it would be a free contribution, for whomever would be interested enough to look into it. I also decided that it was my personal responsibility to support these brave folks into using the project, and to make it, as much as possible, a happy experience for them."

Comments

Re:I'll tell you what it means

[Psychotria]

And that takes a lot of work. When I started my open source project it came as a bit of a shock. The first few emails I got from users were a bit of a thrill and spurred development. Then came support requests. And then every other point chromatic mentions. All of a sudden I found myself under "pressure" to implement features. It was not until I re-assessed what I was doing, and why I began doing it that the pressure lessened a bit (the project was to fill a gap and no project filled my requirements). I still listened to users, and fortunately most of the time their requests were things that I wanted to. But, at the end of the day, I was doing this for myself and I open-sourced the project just for fun and with the hope others found it useful as well.

Re:Release Early, Release Often Doesn't Serve User

[dbcad7]

You might check out.. http://glabels.sourceforge.net/faq/

There are also label templates for OpenOffice but I think the glabel program will do what you want to do.

As an open-source author...

[gillbates]

• I don't have any arbitrary deadlines to meet.
• I can rework parts that I think need reworking, without any change control forms or paperwork.
• I can create in my own particular way, at my own particular pace. I don't have to release or publish anything until it's ready.
• I don't have to bother (much) with issues like licensing compliance or chasing down deadbeat payers, or filing stupid lawsuits because someone is sharing my stuff over P2P.
• I'm free to pursue projects that aren't commercially viable; I can do the kind of creativity that will never be seen in the world of commercial writing.
• I can sate the urge to create without sacrificing my heart and soul to the whims of a corporation.

Okay, on the bad side...

• I'm not sure how many people are using my code, or reading my works, or if anyone even cares. I could be a really bad writer and wouldn't know the difference...
• Because I have no professional obligation to release code, I don't release most of it. I have quite a few projects which are perpetually almost ready.
• I'm spending a substantial amount of time for which I won't ever reap a dividend. Could I do something more productive with this time? Perhaps. But then I'd still have to find some way to sate my creative instincts, so it might end up a net wash.
• There are things which I just can't work on because of my agreement with my employer. Working for a large corporation means that almost anything technical, which has the ability to change the world for the better, would fall under my employment agreement. Sure, I could probably post beer recipes (yes, I do brew...), but the work I've been doing with this FPGA kit is probably covered in part, if not completely, by my employment agreement. Because of the general wording of the agreement, and my desire to continue working there, I generally do not publish anything which could be construed as belonging to my employer in any way. So I typically can't publish anything related to my areas of most proficiency.