decentralized-id.github.io/identosphere-dump/educational-resources/open-source.md

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Open Source

  • Drilling Down on what Open Source is DIF

    The ostensibly binary distinction between “open” and “closed” software gets bandied about in many contexts, often in a dangerously simplified form, as though there were only two, mutually-exclusive options.

  • Three Scenarios for Rolling Back Surveillance Capitalism by Johannes Ernst

    Scenario 1: Regulation Bites. Scenario 2: A Global Disinvestment Campaign Leads to a Vibrant Good Technology Market. Scenario 3: Frustrated Users and Open-Source Developers Start Cooperating for Mutual Benefit

Many people view funding open source as a moral or ethical problem at its core: essentially, companies should pay for what they use (if a project accepts payment) because not doing so is exploitation. I sympathize with this perspective, but I believe a more helpful one is of economics and incentives, because we can reason about money more objectively and constructively this way.

One of the biggest problems in open source software development today is that its that the majority of open source software is written by developers as side projects on their nights and weekends. Out of the mix of developers who do produce software in their nights and weekends only a small sliver of them receive any funding for their work.