Developer Motivations

Main Author: Gail Frederick

Discussion on Developer Motivations

Richard Michaelson: (11/13/04) Here's a running list of supply-side explanations for individuals' (and firms') contributions to OS:

-as a hobby (“simply for the pleasure of doing so”)

-post-scarcity gift economy (which, at heart, is not based on classical economic theory, and instead, suggests an entirely non-economic explanation for human behavior)

-hacker ethics

-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 commercial

-“scratch an itch”

-in opposition to Microsoft

-Natural outgrowth of free speech

-Open source software is more beneficial to society

-Flexibility and configurability

Note: I didn't write down in which article these reasons came up. And some of these came up multiple times in different articles. I think the first 5 are the more popular explanations for why developers drift to OS projects.