Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Open Source
Open source projects are utterly amazing. I'm used to group projects where there's always a straggler who has to be carried along. The straggler's work always has to be double and triple checked and usually with extensive fixes. With open source programs, the world is the group and the project is nothing in comparison. It would seem that there should be a large probability that at least a few people will screw it up and write some really terrible code; however, experience has proven otherwise. I'm only experienced in school work, and, when looking at the population, there are plenty of people who just don't know how to code. When those who code poorly are forced onto a team, people have to make up for their performance. In open source, no one is forced into anything, and everyone contributes as they see fit. People don't want to code what they don't know how to code, and when people who can code want to code, things like Linux are born.
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All thanks to Linux Torvalds that he decided to publish linux under GNU GPL license. Linus himself said, “making Linux GPL'd was definitely the best thing I ever did.”
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to see this type of natural self-selection that happens in open source projects. You definitely find a lot more quality when you're going to people who have a passion and are doing it for fun instead of us to bring in a few more dollars.
ReplyDeleteIt's also amazing that people feel the drive to contribute at all. Finding the time to put into open-source is the most difficult thing for me, and I admit that I'm a user of open-source, but not a contributor. I hope someday to be able to participate in the development.
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