On: How Tech Can Build

[meheleventyone]

> I know I cannot explain it properly; but why is open source such a superior way to develop infrastructure software?

Isn't it just cost? As you say software is immaterial and so the only real cost is in the labor to create it which open source neatly does away with.

[NortySpock → meheleventyone]

Well, there's still the operational cost of setting up and running the hardware (again, skilled labor), but at least the software is free.

[naringas → NortySpock]

yes, but at least until everything went back into the (mainframe) cloud, the opreational cost of running the software was coverd by the user.

My pc's hardware is mine, and the electricity bill is also mine.

So 'licensing' software is very much a form of rent.

Quite frankly this is an open problem. e.g. the debate about AWS suddenly providing, redis, elastcisearch, etc as a service and making the original developers redundant.

[meheleventyone → NortySpock]

Absolutely but the OP was talking about development of the software.

[naringas → meheleventyone]

let's not forget about the (often overlooked) cost of maintenance

but yes, software does have marginal cost, this is a brutal game changer we (as a civilization) are just not dealing with appropriately