Hacker News Reader

Comment by SFJulie | Hacker News Reader

It is heartbreaking to see such a contributor like Kenneth Reitz in conferences. I really enjoy using Kenneth Reitz's creation : I would like to see him smile.

He is probably in the top 10% of the developers, he does not profit of his talent as much as an idiot that just code shit.

When I sample over the vast majority of free software coder I know (100s) over the non free one (~same) and I compare the wealth/recognition I can't help but notice that for some of the 1% top FOSS devs you do have a breakthrough, but then, blind obedience seems to give more results in terms of social and wealth status.

Something is rotten in the state of coding.

My advice: don't make free software enjoy life, and close your ears to the voice of the voice of the crowd open them to the one you care about.

And if you really want to make FOSS code, do it like others do knitting, pastry, moonshining, brewery.

Keep the fun in your life.

View on HN

Do I look unhappy at conferences or something?

Yeah, why can't we ever get you to smile, go for walks, take creative photographs of the host city, crack jokes, host people in your AirBnb to tell stories of science and spirit? I mean jeez.

You are SO consumed with FOSS that you don't even make music. Or collect art. Or work on your photography. Or write about theories of mind and mental health issues. Or anything!

You looked great at PyCon this year. Thanks for the requests stickers!

I mean, they can get pretty smelly.

At pycon montréal you were looking a tad tired. Maybe I mistook jetlag for something else?

Something else being a void within his soul, representative of 'something rotten at the heart of programming'?

That's quite a leap to make from seeing someone tired.

Maybe some people value other things in life than social and wealth status?

Maybe, the value in code in production nowadays relies heavily on innovative code coming from free software that would not be done in R&D in most companies.

And while people use this code to make actual value in their companies, trying to code as you code in free software (doing correct documentation, testing, correct issues tracking, validating) is often leading to conflicts because of time to market.

Correct software takes time and an integrity that needs no excuses. Production software requires politics.

I think the IP laws are ripping the true innovators of their values.

And maybe people do not strive for recognition, but I see very few companies out there that will not use free software without even giving credits to the original authors.

And whatever your license is, the right 0 of any developers is to keep his/her name associated with their creations.

IP laws are broken they gives the most values not to the one who do but the one who have the money to sit on others shoulders without giving back.

Most software developers are like theater play writers that would not only stay poor while the people playing their creations not only get rich but also famous without giving but a small portion of what they earn or give credits. The giving back to free software is pity money, a drop in the ocean of the profits generated.

Authors' rights have become the tools to actually achieve what they were designed to avoid.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com