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by atomflunder
1765 days ago
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I don‘t think it‘s true that there is no competition in the example you give, rather competition simply happens along a differen axis. In the open source space there are certain characteristics that make your project more likely to succeed. Being, well, open is obviously one of them, just like passing emission tests is a factor in cars. So, open source projects have to be competitive along the openness axis in order to succeed, just like VW needs to pass these tests, one way or the other. To me it seems like the same mechanism really, just fed with different incentives. |
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The incentives in free software, in my limited experience, are to grow a productively maintained system, not necessarily a profitable one (assuming, of course, the existence of some outside source of stable income). And with that motivation, I feel that competition disappears. When I look at an alternative solution to a problem I'm trying to solve, it's more in the lense of 'oh, that's a good idea!' than anger that their solution is better than mine. Then, if I'm lucky, it might be the type of thing that can be refactored out into a library and shared across implementations. I still feel that competition precludes that, regardless of incentives.