[LRUG] Paths to open source contributions

[Vahagn Hayrapetyan]

Roland: so it's a mixture of different factors, much as I thought it would
be!

Cheers,
Vahagn

On Thu, May 7, 2009 at 4:23 PM, Roland Swingler
<roland.swingler at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hi,
>
> My OSS contributions have been paltry, rather than impressive, so take
> what I say with a pinch of salt. I've been motivated a little by all
> of the things you suggest - some were driven by trying to get a better
> feel for a project or type of project (jRuby for example - which sort
> of fits with your option 3), others were motivated by needing to fix a
> problem in an existing library or finding that something you've built
> might be useful to others (options 1 & 2). What I haven't done (yet)
> is set out from the beginning to "create an open source project to do
> X": for me it seems a little more unplanned than that.
>
> Cheers,
> Roland
>
> On Thu, May 7, 2009 at 2:54 PM, Vahagn Hayrapetyan <vahagnh at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > Hello,-
> >
> > I've been browsing the often impressive open source contributions of some
> of
> > the Rails / Ruby luminaries when it struck me that I don't really
> understand
> > how most open source projects originate. Essentially what I'd like to
> know
> > is whether such contributions are most typically the bi-product of some
> main
> > development effort or are they conceptualized and implemented for their
> own
> > sake, from the very start.
> >
> > So if you have open source contributions, I hope you'll shed some light
> as
> > to why you have them:
> >
> > You were solving a problem for yourself (a pet project perhaps), and
> ended
> > up with extra code that you released as open source;
> > You were working on someone else's problem (such as a client's), and
> ended
> > up with extra code that you released as open source;
> > You were bored and decided to make a contribution for the fun of it;
> > You were being strategic. You realized that for the Kool Kids to work
> with
> > you and the Beautiful People to go to bed with you, you NEED to have open
> > source contributions before we arrive at web 3.12. (This is the path I'm
> > feeling irresistibly pulled towards, by the force of destiny).
> >
> > As I realize that human behaviour is often influenced by several factors,
> > compound answers (such as 1&4; or 3&4) are of particular interest.
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> > / Vahagn
> >
> >
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> >
> >
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