[Python-Dev] altruism (original) (raw)

Brett Cannon brett at python.org
Wed Sep 23 19:57:40 CEST 2009

On Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 04:36, Antoine Pitrou <solipsis at pitrou.net> wrote:

Brett Cannon <brett python.org> writes:

Trust me, if you are doing open source for anything other than altruistic reasons you are bound to be disappointed. I'm surprised by this statement but perhaps it's a matter of vocabulary. Having fun and doing things you like to do does not strike me as "altruistic". Being involved in a FOSS project is not the same as participating in a charity. See this quick presentation about motivation of FOSS developers (second slide says: "Altruism? Not really"): http://www.infonomics.nl/FLOSS/papers/20030619/index.htm The full study is at: http://www.infonomics.nl/FLOSS/report/index.htm ("Part IV: Survey of Developers") (but of course there's the question of whether "altruism" exists at large, or is a political and moral fiction)

Ignoring the temptation to pull out my philosophy degree and devolve into a ridiculously involved conversation, I meant "altruism" in regard to not expecting to get anything from others for what you do. I do think you should only do open source work if you have fun and enjoy it, but I also think you should not do it for anyone but yourself unless you are drawing a paycheck.

-Brett

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