Developer Motivations

Main Author: GailFrederick

Links to Papers Regarding Developer Motivations

Interview with Linus Torvalds on Developer Motivation! http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue3_3/torvalds/

Interesting Quotes on Developer Motivations

"I've found that, if you just assume you aren't the first person to have a problem, you can find that first person online and see what he or she had to do. I hope that people know just how lucky they are to have Google." - Interview with Chris DiBona

Discussion on Developer Motivations

Richard Michaelson: (11/13/04) Based on what I've read so far, here's a list of supply-side explanations for OS (why firms and individuals contribute to OS), which you may want to incorporate in your chapter. Since my chapter includes both supply and demand side explanations for private entities' incentives to contribute to and employ OS, there likely will be some overlap in the reasons we attribute to OS contribution. Here's my running list: - as a hobby (“simply for the pleasure of doing so”) - post-scarcity gift economy (which, at heart, is not based on classical economy theory, and instead, suggests an entirely non-economic explanation for human behavior) - hacker ethics - in opposition to Microsoft - “scratch an itch” - Lerner and Tirole’s: individuals participate only if they expect a net benefit, viewing their contribution as a means (ego-boosting, reputation, etc) to an end, which is fundamentally economic or commerical - Natural outgrowth of free speech - Open source software is more beneficial to society - Flexibility and configurability