Boredom Drives Open-Source Developers? 199
Henry McClyde writes "Chris Anderson of The Long Tail posted an article yesterday in which he claims that "spare cycles" — or boredom and the tons of people who wish they had something better to do — is what drives Web 2.0.... and the open source development community. While Web 2.0 in general is driven by "the long tail," NeoSmart seems to have taken up issue with Anderson's claims that open source developers (and other freeware programmers in general) do what they do because they're bored and have nothing better to spend their time on. Same with Wikipedia contributors, and bloggers in general."
Wrong (Score:5, Insightful)
Spare cycles power Slashdot...
All I can say is Wow! (Score:1, Insightful)
True by definition (Score:5, Insightful)
This is by definition true for any activity we undertake. If there was something more profitable, enjoyable, pressing, useful to do, we (as rational thinkers) would be doing it.
So what? (Score:5, Insightful)
I haven't read the article, so I don't know if this is supposed to be a slam against open-source contributors or not, but I think it's safe to say that people who choose to do this with their free time are certainly being more productive than those who just sit and play Evercrack for hours on end.
If these people were charging for their product, you'd call their motivation "entrepreneurial spirit", but since they're giving it away, you slight them by saying that they contribute only because they're bored?
well, in part (Score:5, Insightful)
Some similar things outside of computers:
1) (this is a bit in excess of what OSS typically has in terms of altruism) - I have friends who do Habitat For Humanity on Saturdays. One could say this is out of boredom, but it is also (and one case) more believably out of desire to help others.
2) I know a lot of people who do their own home maintenance and "upgrades". This is not only less financially burdensom, but they typically get things done somewhat faster and better than a contractor would.
All these mindsets mindsets (altruism, desire to have direct control of the quality, and greed) can also cause a person to develop OSS, with or without the presence of a "I have time and don't know what to do with it" state.
Re:True by definition (Score:2, Insightful)
Money (Score:4, Insightful)
Hmph (Score:4, Insightful)
In a lot of cases, people are contributing to something really meaningful and valuable, and to imply that they have nothing better to do is flat out condescending. If one CAN make the Linux kernel (or whichever project) better, there are very few things to be involved in that would go to benefit the public.
The implication that people contributing their valuable time to something like open source is only out of boredom and lack of alternatives is absurd and insulting. That may indeed be the reason why some people contribute, to be sure, but to imply that it is of no value to them, or the world, is utterly lunatic. (On the same continuum and with the same absurdity, the opposing exaggeration is that people contributing to open source are doing it for the betterment of mankind, as against the unrelenting corporate machine.)
I'm fairly certain that the truth lies in the middle, and that for an individual contributing to open source is a valuable way to spend your time because it gives you experience, exposes you to new ideas and people and challenges. As a bonus to the world, these contributions generally improve the publicly accessible wealth of knowledge, ideas and software functionality.
Any implication that these people are doing something of no value to them or the world is disgusting.
Maybe for some... (Score:1, Insightful)
Here's where I'm coming from:
The folks who write that stuff publish it on line. And within the F/OSS community, at least, their names are recognized. They're moved up the programmer hierarchy of "greatness", if you will. I mean just see what happens when a F/OSS developer posts on this site, it's an immediate +5 Insightful or Interesting. And it's a way of proving how "smart" they are. It's a way of getting attention.
There's also this badge of entitlement or gratefulness that I can't get a handle on. If you criticize a F/OSS release, folks immediately come down on you like you just called Mother Teressa a whore.
And then there's their attitude. I recently un-installed a F/OSS application and part of the un0-install process was a web page that comes up to give them feedback. I did because it was the least I could do. I clicked the "I didn't like it." check box because that one fit the best. I commented that the program worked great, didn't crash, and everything, but, it just didn't fit my needs - there was nothing wrong with it.
A message popped up saying something like, "Didn't like it! You try to write an application like this!!"
Geeze! Get a grip! You think I called their Mother a whore or something!
It's the only time we can do something beautiful (Score:3, Insightful)
sociology (Score:5, Insightful)
The fewer people that are required to produce crops to feed the maximum amount of people frees those people for the pursuit of things like religion, philosophy, politics, literature, technology, or whatever other discipline doesn't lead to the direct creation of crops and cattle.
So basically, yes, Open Source is driven on free clock cycles that don't have to be dedicated to survival. This is even true for the company that commissions open source projects for its own use. If the company wasn't creating enough profit to allow for investment in future growth or any risky investment behavior then it wouldn't have the spare cycles to devote to the investment. And, software is risky it only pays off half the time.
You don't invest in the stock market with your lunch money. You might invest your retirement account in stocks, but not the cash you need to stay alive in the next few days. If the need is too vital it precludes any risk behavior.
If you want more open source, then create an environment where more people can take the risk of creating open source projects and even potentially waste their time on them. Consider that most projects fail. Most projects do not become popular. There must be enough surplus developer time to support those risks so that the one lucky project that changes everything has the chance to get created and have a few people waste their time on it before it becomes a product.
Re:How about calling avoidance of other boring wor (Score:3, Insightful)
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Well, in order to stop me giving in and getting a TV I wrote a book. Now that's finished my next project is a risk management toolset. In my case it's not so much boredom, it's the fear of distracting myself in non-productive ways when I could be doing something interesting.
Open Source takes commitment (Score:3, Insightful)
Not too far from these people are the contributors who submit bug fixes and new features and support. They don't work on this every day but they created a little something they needed and end up sending it back to the source (no pun intended) for the community to enjoy. They probably do it originally out of necessity and send the change back out of generocity and a sense of community.
I don't think it's boredom... (Score:5, Insightful)
Previous generations had hobbies that let technologists use their skills in ways that gave them pleasure. For example, electrical engineers would tinker with Ham Radio sets, and build gadgets. Because at the time there was no internet, these hobbies tended to be personal and private, although there were some magazines that would allow submissions (and sharing of information).
Modern technologists are far less limited. They have the global internet and the open-source movement, plus a huge infrastructure for sharing information (like Sourceforge and Slashdot) available. It's like a hobbyist renaissance, or maybe the hobbyist version of the Enlightenment.
Who can resist participating? It's marvellous. Your average nerd (myself included) was picked on throughout his childhood, and surrounded by people who didn't share his interests. Now, suddenly, there's a whole world of people who would just LOVE to help you debug your networked application.
It's Nerdvana.
Saying it all derives from boredom is equivalent to saying you don't share our interests, and don't "get" them. It's not cool. We're not bored, we're INSPIRED.
And it's WAY more fun than what we have to do all day at work.
Re:How about calling avoidance of other boring wor (Score:3, Insightful)
Isn't that what any hobby is? (Score:3, Insightful)
Some people choose to spend their free time say. Watching TV, playing video games, playing cards, knitting, gardening, building tiny ships inside of bottles, listening to music, going to the gym, going for a hike - all things that *some* people may enjoy doing, so when they have free time and 'nothing else to do', its what they spend their time on.
Is it so bad that open source developers chose to spend their time on something they enjoy doing, are passionate about, and helps out thousands of others in the process?
I'd say an Open Source developer that is contributing to a widely used project is making far better use of their 'spare cycles and boredom', than the fat lump watching American Idol re-runs.
One guy's release from boredom... (Score:5, Insightful)
Look, this is a stupid argument, akin to saying that they're doing it "even though they're not getting paid for it." Of course open source developers do it to relieve boredom - if I have available time, and I get bored, know what I do? Something that makes me happy.
The author could have said that open source developers do it because of the joy it brings them, and it would have been functionally equivalent.
Not in my case (Score:3, Insightful)
Personally, with a wife and four kids, a 50+ hour-per-week job and lots of hobbies, boredom is not a problem for me. I do contribute to open source projects when I can find the time, but it's definitely something that I have to make time for, because "spare cycles" just don't happen. Mostly, my OSS development time is between 11pm and 2am, when I would (should!) be sleeping.
Like virtually any other characterization you choose to make about open source developers and open source development, this one is partly true and partly false. Lots of people really want to pigeonhole OSS developers, to fit them neatly into their existing worldviews, but it doesn't work because there is simply too much diversity. To say that there are as many motivations for OSS development as there are OSS developers is really only a small exaggeration. Some people undoubtedly do it out of boredom, some do it as a way to avoid other work, some do it to build a "resume", some do it because they love it, some get paid to do it, some do it for the admiration of their peers, some do it because it's the only way they can get software they like (this is me, mostly, along with the "love it" and, when I'm honest, a little bit of peer admiration)... I'm sure there are plenty of other motivations out there, and I'm sure every OSS developer does it for some blend of reasons.
If you insist on finding a dominant motive, one that is perhaps more common and leads to more code than any other, I'd nominate "for the love of it". People who don't understand just how much fun writing code can be tend to discount that reason, and for them boredom may perhaps seem a more plausible alternative, given that they have experienced boredom and been led to do useless things to fill their time, but have never experience the rush that comes from creating a finely-crafted and elegant piece of code. IMO, though, "because I can't find a better way to fill my time" is a very weak and unlikely motivation. There are always Star Trek reruns.
Re:Duh (Score:2, Insightful)
(2004 is around/about when I stopped doing freewares/sharewares, due to lack of energy and time to do so anymore as well as need to do so (in that that apps I have done are finished, per user tests/critiques long ago, & they work "perfectly" (purely relative term imo) all the way from Windows 9.x - VISTA currently as of this writing, & this is the prime example thereof: http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/389/foowhate
Shareware/Freeware helped me to understand more than just what I do for a job/livelyhood in this field (which is MIS/IS/IT database coding mostly), primarily, as to bettering myself in this field of endeavor.
Shareware/Freeware construction basically truly helped me to improve my skillset as a coder, no questions asked: Practice HELPS make you perfect!
(Perfect? Ah, there is no such thing especially considering "beauty is in the eye of the beholder", especially in software development, without user critique & feedback that is - nobody can 'spot it all' as to useability issues or bugs, w/ out help imo & experience - you cannot please everyone however, this IS "the rub").
Doing shareware/freeware has also aided my resume to some extent (because some of my wares went into commercial products for Microsoft partners) and also got my name around this field as well, in written publication (as well as on websites).
Personally? I never considered doing shareware/freeware a "waste of my time"!
To myself, it amounted to time spent improving myself on more fronts coding (other than databasing work) & doing so aided in my understanding of how Operating Systems work as well as improving myself on how to use, for instance, the Win32 API & also custom 3rd party controls (mostly
It has paid off (literally AND figureatively) in many ways.
Idle hands are the "devil's workshop", but I personally would not call software development of ANY kind, idle hands. If anything, it is far better than blogging or writing articles only for example, because it improves you and is basically on-the-job-training of a sort you are doing independently.
This is what I gained by this, personally, in the doing of freeware/shareware over time the past decade or more (as of this writing of this post).
Additionally: How many products over time have come from the "freeware/shareware" area, which I consider the "farm teams" semi-pro leagues of software development? Quite a few:
Example: Norton GHOST's origins? Freeware/Shareware, iirc.
There are far more, but that is a "classic case-in-point/example"...
APK
P.S.=> And, as far as larger projects (other than shareware/freeware utilities such as I have done)? Look @ LINUX: The damn thing's pretty awesome (though I am truly a Win32 person mostly), especially considering it was created at the expense of MANY contributor's personal time - Linux is a construct based on freely given time mostly, and it is a socio-cultural/technological phenomenon that proves people CAN & WILL do great things, for free, voluntarily on occasion (without being paid), that is impressive in & of itself... apk
Re:Wrong (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Socialist World Order (Score:3, Insightful)
I saw a documentary on PBS about the summer of love, and it struck me how much of that philosophy is present in the Open Source movement. Take, for example, the Diggers, who would get bruised and otherwise unsellable food from grocery stores, cook it, and give it away in the park to anyone who wanted it. They took things that would have gone to wasted and made them into something useful for others.
Open Source contributors are continuing this tradition. They're taking spare programmer cycles and spare server space and turning it into something that improves the lives of people for free.
Re:Socialist World Order (Score:2, Insightful)
Working for free producing whatever you feel like would be socialist/communist only if society/community would provide you with everything you need *without* your still having to do a regular job.
There is no right within the wrong, as T. W. Adorno used to say: unfortunately, it's impossible to have "a little bit of socialism/communism" in a world with its master conditions determined by capitalism. Free software is not socialism/communism (a fact that some will pity and others acclaim...).
Boredom Drives Progress (Score:4, Insightful)
The fact is that a leisure class with the right motivation and philosophy, can be a real benefit to the rest of society. They have the time and money to "follow their dream", for the most part. Many artists, writers, and scientists in the past held down more or less sinecure positions that paid cash even though they really never actually did the job as specified in the job title. A significant portion of notable contributors to progress and art have been outright aristocratic.
Boredom can be aimless and cause no end of trouble, but in the right sorts of people, can lead to progress where it could not otherwise exist.
Re:girlfriends and OSS (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:How about calling avoidance of other boring wor (Score:3, Insightful)
Though I have some doubts about this "boredom drives OSS idea." Sure, programmers might be bored if they didn't have some fun/intersting programming to do... but certainly that can't drive them. I mean, you have to really enjoy it to do it. Enjoyment or satisfaction has to be the motivator here. Otherwise you'd have to conclude that the only reason anyone does any non-essential life supporting activity is to avoid boredom.
-matthew
Re:One guy's release from boredom... (Score:3, Insightful)
Sometimes, open-source / Free software does get created out of boredom. Here's an example from my personal experience:
1999-2000, I wrote GNU Robots. [gnu.org] Was it my long-time passion to write a program that simulated a little robot wandering around a large room? No, I did it because I needed to have something to do. My employer had just announced that we would be shutting down the company, so all projects were cancelled, and we were in a "keep the lights on" mode until we transitioned off our customers throughout the next year. The CEO asked us to cease all projects. Suddenly, I had nothing to do during the day except mark time. For the first 3-4 months, it was great - I finally got to do all the backoffice "cleanup" projects that I never had time to do. After that, I sat on my hands.
Until I realized I could write a game, and look like I was doing work. So I started work on a simulator where I could program a little robot, and see how many prizes he could pick up before he ran out of energy. Eventually, it became GNU Robots.
-jh
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:girlfriends and OSS (Score:1, Insightful)
come October you ain't gonna know what hit you...:-)
As one laptop+wife coder to another, the good news is that once you have the child, at the end of the evening when
the baby is sleeping your wife will likely be so tired she won't care what you do... on the the other hand you will
likely be just as tired and given a choice between a crappy Friends re-run or working on your code , Friends will win 9 times out of ten...
Anyway, on a deeper note, one day you will realize that having a child is the best thing that ever happenned to you
and all the other stuff isn't that important...
good luck...
Re:girlfriends and OSS (Score:2, Insightful)
but overall, I can't bring myself to take on new projects anymore. Its left me very bored sometimes. I took a break originally because, I found I was spending all my time at work and at home in front of a PC and feeling very socially isolated, I wasn't meeting new girls, I wasn't dating, I disliked this... so I decided to cut off some of the activities that I liked, to make more time.
Then I found out I was socially retarded and shy. So I found myself really bored and took up smoking pot (which had been something i did once in a while for fun) to take up the time. This ended up not helping one but at being more socially adept, meeting people etc.
In the end I found myself just bored as hell, and not doing anything. Very productive.
All in all, chasing away boredom is a pretty common motivator. I think its great that people choose productive things to do with their time. Personally, I wont be going back to OSS development anytime soon, I found I have too much other stuff to work on. The key, I have found, is to be sure you are actually spending your time working on something, and not just doing something that helps you forget that you are bored... or other needs aren't being met.
Its really good to do things in moderation, sometimes I wish I hadn't taken on things that take up so much time. I would like to develop OSS again.
-Steve
Re:girlfriends and OSS (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:girlfriends and OSS (Score:2, Insightful)