The trunk
Does FOSS need amateurs?
I suggest you to have a look at Gianugo’s blog about the value of free software when there are no amateur developers working on it. His position follows:
| Sure, there are OSS projects out there that scare people away: I’m definitely not going to delve into OOo code to scratch my itches, and the same goes for Firefox, Eclipse et al. But I don’t feel the value of such projects diminished at all by the idea that only people with full-time availability will actually be able to deal with the source mammoth. If I really need to draw a line, that would be around the diversity concept: as long as a project is able to catalyze different interest and build communities that foster communication, the Open Source concept is alive and kicking, and it really doesn’t matter much if a project community is focused on corporate strategies rather than individuals’. |
Here is the complete post.
Let me just say that I completely agree.