Much of the conversation about the sustainability of open source has revolved around how to ensure VC-backed companies can turn millions in investment into hundreds of millions in return. But talking with early pioneers of open source projects like Curl, Fio, and Wireshark, it’s clear that a critical component is missing from such conversations: fun.
In canvassing the industry for the stories behind important but perhaps not well-known open source projects, it has surprised me just how many of these projects are developed for personal satisfaction, regardless of the impact on these developers’ bank accounts.