Economics

Oh, ‘TANSTAFOSS.’ Means -There ain’t no such thing as Free/Open Source Software.’ And isn’t," I added, pointing to a MIT License included in the npm package I just downloaded, “or these cloud SAAS would cost half as much. Was reminding her that anything free costs twice as much in long run or turns out worthless.” “An interesting philosophy.” “Not philosophy, fact. One way or other, what you get, you pay for.” I fanned air. “Was Earthside once and heard expression ‘Free as air.’ This air isn’t free, you pay for every breath." - Silicon Valley is a Harsh Mistress »

Yesterday I got the first (paid!) request to add a feature on Hub20 from someone who is working on what is likely to become the first Hub20 production instance.

It’s a simple feature, driven by his need to have some functionality that is not provided yet. He could’ve looked at current state of the work and said “oh, it sucks because it doesn’t do X”. He could’ve used that (temporary) failure to address his need, and justify going to some “established” business. Or he could’ve just taken the code and tried to “compete” - it’s open source after all.