Open Source is simply 'free sweat labor' for companies to make use of.
As an example: IBM uses open source developers as their sweat labor camp to build linux kernels and linux software. IBM can make money on consulting and services for the software, while the sweat labor camp produces the actual software for IBM at no charge.
The free software developers have sweat dripping down their foreheads developing the software, fixing the bugs.. etc. It takes literally 5-12 hours of their day to maintain the software with no salary or compensation.. and even with the sweat dripping, they continue to do it.. until they are in the know or figure something special out.
Some open source developers don't know any of this for several years. They just sort of develop software as if it is 'good for humanity' and 'good for the learning experience'. None of them really know how much money truly is being made off their work.. they all sort of assume that all their work is just being made use of by other free, lonely, mainly non commercial developers who are also out to help the community.
Other open source developers do know the real story (such as myself) and sort of laugh it off while developing some open source software here and there for jokes, shits, and giggles. We admit reality, write articles about the reality.. and sort of laugh at open source as an interesting but funny nationalistic development model. Angry 'free software' developers read the articles and get all upset and discouraged and immediately deny all the words in the paper.. coming up with some cliche such as 'but software is about freedom of speech!'. We continue laughing, those in the know.
Open Source Makes Money!
IBM may donate a couple of cents to the sweat labor camps every few years.. enough money to buy two and a half developers a tin of stale rotten beans. And the developers praise IBM.. hey they donated! We are the best! IBM is great! IBM even has a penguin logo on their site! IBM is great! Let's slashdot it! Forget the fact that IBM is just using us as a sweat labor camp, and forget that IBM has patents which go against everything linux was built upon.. forget that! IBM is supporting linux! IBM is advocating Linux! They are Great! We are great! Even if poor! Now we can brag that IBM supports Open Source!
$0.00 per hour
Fix this bug, make this better, repair this issue, release this version, develop this, fix this incompatibility.. NO COMPENSATION! Do it all for fame! Or nationalism.. helping your source code nation and your programmer nation become better.
Of course the programmer nationalism fraud eventually is leaked to the public.. for example some Linux advocate is hired at Microsoft (even Raymond Chen was a linux hacker). Or someone writes an article about how SUSE linux is funded by Microsoft in some gross way. Or someone leaks news that Ubuntu is losing millions of dollars a year, i.e. not making a cent.
But then some other programmer replaces that guy who went to work for Microsoft.. someone takes over his position. Some retard in university who has no idea what it takes to make money in software, decides that he can maintain that project now. For about 5 years this goes on until he gets a real job and quits open source, pretending he's still part of it.. and then someone else replaces him. This cycle goes on.
Job Irony
Some open source programmers even manage to have real jobs that have nothing to do with software or very little to do with software.. so when they come home they have no life and work on their open source project, claiming that software should be free (while they make money at whatever else they do, which should NOT be free, apparently).
As if one job, developing software, should be free, while another job, developing oranges or apples on a farm, should NOT be free. One is magically different than the other.. one is a proprietary fruit farm while the other is a open source software farm. Ask the person if the fruit can be made open and free. and they say.. huh? What are you talking about? That has nothing to do with open source!
But For Some Reason
There are intelligent developers out there silly enough to do all this Open Source work for free, including myself at times. It's funny what people will do to help other developers out.. it really reminds me of Nationalism. Helping, working, and fighting for your programming community.. even if it means you starve to death while doing so. It's as if the programming nation or the developer nation can be more important than your own individual selfish selfy self.
It Is Nationalistic
Nationalism is when you care not about yourself - you only care about your nation. Even if it means taking a grenade and blowing yourself up with the grenade.. i.e. suicide bombing. As long as it is helping YOUR nation.. you will do it.
Scary..
Lots of open source developers are NOT out to help themselves.. they are selfless nationalistic folks who develop code for their developer nation, and their favorite language (i.e. favorite nation). You've got Ruby nation, FPC nation, GCC nation, PHP nation.. and then you have all the proprietary fruit farms who take your nation's fruit and kind of sell it, without compensating you (unless you get a job with them of course, which can happen).
How To Farm Fruit
Of course IBM sells services, consulting, and courses about how to setup the fruit farm, how to tend the trees, how to prune, how to plant the software in the right place.. etc. But the people who actually give away the seeds and the people who develop the seeds that grow the fruit? Those people are used - they don't get salaries. And that is perfectly fair, in a free software license such as GNU, where this behavior is actually encouraged and endorsed. Creating the software itself is worthless from a monetary persepective - it says right in the license that the software code is FREE OF CHARGE.
No no no.. it's not the developers who get paid.. you idiot. It's the people that 'package' and 'sell services' who deserve payment.
Only problem is.. once everyone figures this out.. why will there be any developers left at all? They will all figure it out and become packagers and service providers right? Well, usually it is because of ignorance and stupidity. As I say university students that are completely ignorant of money, or people who enjoy selfless Nationalism.
Addiction
There's also addiction involved. Even if not getting paid, a developer will get a high out of releasing software.. kind of like a drug but maybe better in some respects. Free software? Ha, addicted! That stuff is better than pussy itself! Alcohol, cigarettes? Sex? Nah.. just gimme my damn free software and let me develop, I will starve to death if I can just have a shot of my cocaine. Forget my damn job, I need my cocaine shot tonight! To hell with the huge infected diseased purple bleeding hole in my arm. My cocaine is more important to me than my own self!
And the pimps who package and sell the heroine are making way more than the guys who grow and produce the poppy seeds. The sad thing is, poppy seed farmers make more money than the majority of open source software programmers.. meaning that open source software is basically more addictive and corrupt than the entire heroine industry.
To All Open Source Developers
Make no mistake. You are all being used.. but at least you're having fun, at least some of you will get a bit of fame, and at least you are learning, and at most 1.1% of you will actually get paid for your work!
Remember.. the author of this article has released lots and lots of open source code.. and I still do. I am selfless, and you are too.. but don't expect to become even a tiny bit rich by being selfless. NEVER was the intention to become rich anyway. We are addicted. I like programming, and I like helping my programming nation more than I like drugs, sex, cigarettes, tv. I don't even have a TV because it's so addictive to be a programming/internet junkie. It's a good sickness to have, even if you die of starvation at age 32. And you will get hired by companies when you are 31. So it's all okay. No, actually Romance with the opposite sex is still better than software, as long as it's not traditional, classic, flowers and candy "seen it in a hollywood movie" garbage. Kissy kissy.
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