Does open-source undermine the value of individual programmers?

3 points by jivejones 14 years ago | 3 comments

As a group of programmers build open-source products they are spending time on the process but not getting paid, they then create a product, something like Joomla, which then is used by other developers. But as a whole, Joomla makes some jobs easier, but also kills jobs (or hours of work) as it takes less people and work to get a site built.

I know it makes some jobs easier, but more importantly it makes some work free.

How is programming work worth anything if it can be done for free?

What I mean to say is open-source is shooting the industry in the foot.

inportb 14 years ago |

I think you're saying roughly this: work is the process of turning time into money, and the open source community saves everyone's time, so less money could be made.

However, I think you might be missing the fact that the time saved from not reinventing the wheel countless times could be used to build better things. In fact, this happens a lot. Numerous companies and careers have been built by virtue of open source tools.

spooneybarger 14 years ago |

And without php which is free, there would be no joomla, and without gcc and linux and freebsd and a ton of other tools there would be no php... and how many people wouldn't have jobs right now?

My entire career has been built around using various open source tools.

Have you consider that without these tools to make X project take Y time that X project might never have been done? If it was a massive undertaking to create a website for Mom's Bakery, how many Mom's Bakeries would have websites?

I would argue that all these tools create more work, more value, not less.

iamdave 14 years ago |

Value and worth to some people are defined by things other than money. And this is true outside of programming.