From 46d5a8d7c3f20ba44e7e954e414a46b3f4593066 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Guillaume Date: Sat, 9 Mar 2024 15:44:50 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] Blog post wording fixes --- .../blog/our-commitment-open-source-community.md | 14 +++++++------- 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-) diff --git a/content/blog/our-commitment-open-source-community.md b/content/blog/our-commitment-open-source-community.md index 94991625..9a2b0e1a 100644 --- a/content/blog/our-commitment-open-source-community.md +++ b/content/blog/our-commitment-open-source-community.md @@ -18,9 +18,9 @@ meta: Following the recent news about open-source projects drifting away from their original open-source spirit, I wanted to reiterate our commitment to the open-source community. Open source is a fundamental part of the software industry. It should be nurtured and protected. However, it usually comes with challenges, especially regarding financing and sustainability. -I am committed to ensuring that Mockoon remains a healthy and sustainable open-source project. And I have a plan. +I am committed to ensuring that Mockoon remains a **healthy and sustainable open-source project**. And I have a plan. -> 💡 TL;DR: I am building a SaaS on top of Mockoon to finance the project and ensure its sustainability. The SaaS features will be optional, and the applications will remain free and open-source. +> 💡 **TL;DR:** I am building a SaaS on top of Mockoon to finance the project and ensure its sustainability. The SaaS features will be optional, and the applications will remain free and open-source. ## The unavoidable growth of open-source projects? @@ -30,19 +30,19 @@ Every project starts with some code published on a repository. For Mockoon, this Innocent enough, it can soon lead to a long list of feature requests, pull requests, bug reports, and documentation to maintain. It means that people are interested in the project. However, the more the project grows, the more time and effort are required to maintain it. A blessing and a curse at the same time. -And maybe this is a bit counterintuitive, but the more popular the project becomes, the more it makes sense to maintain and grow it. Of course, the first normal reaction is that no obligation comes attached to publishing an open-source project. Nobody has to maintain it or to use it. But why all the initial efforts if it's to let it stagnate? Stagnation often means a project's slow death. +Maybe this is a bit counterintuitive, but the more popular the project becomes, the more it makes sense to maintain and grow it. Of course, the first normal reaction is that no obligation comes attached to publishing an open-source project. Nobody has to maintain it or to use it. But why all the initial efforts if it's to let it stagnate? Stagnation often means a project's slow death. This growth will soon mandate many other things we can put in the "marketing" category. Writing tutorials and blog posts, creating videos, posting on social media, etc. These tasks serve many interesting purposes aside from making the project more visible: it can help reduce the amount of support requests, attract new contributors, etc. -Let's admit it's also rewarding to see the project grow and know that your work is appreciated. +And let's admit it: it's also rewarding to see the project grow and know that your work is appreciated. But when it starts taking too much time, the project can become a burden for its maintainers. In recent years, we have seen many open-source projects abandoned by their maintainers, or even worse. -Because everything has a cost, and for open-source projects, it's often a cost in time and energy. +Everything has a cost, and for open-source projects, it's often a cost in time and energy. ## Financing open-source projects -This cost in time and energy is often not sustainable in the long run. While open-source projects do not mandate any financial return, this time/energy cost often translates into a financial need. +This cost in time and energy is rarely sustainable in the long run. While open-source projects do not mandate any financial return, this time/energy cost often translates into a financial need. Why? Because time is money? More or less. A lot of projects are only one or two people working during their free time when they should spend time with their family instead. It's a bit cliché, but it's the reality for many. To reclaim their free time, maintainers need to dedicate their regular working hours to the project, and for this, they either need money or an employer who understands the value of contributing to open-source. Unfortunately, the top-funded open-source projects with full-time paid maintainers are not the majority, just the tip of the iceberg. @@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ So, seeing so many people using Mockoon (and giving very good feedback, see belo I already had a vague idea of building a SaaS a long time ago (see below), but it's only recently that I started working seriously on it. In the past years, I've relied on freelancing and sponsorships to finance my work on Mockoon. I've also been lucky to have contributors helping me with the project. It helped release the pressure a little bit. -However, sponsorship is far from covering my financial needs or the one of the project (code signing certificates, Apple Developer Program fees, servers, etc). The success of some massive open-source projects may give a different impression, but most projects are not funded this way, or even at all. It's hard to find sponsors, extremely time-consuming, and nobody wants to pay for something free, especially companies. I'm still lucky (and grateful!) to have some sponsors, but it's far from enough. +However, sponsorship is far from covering my financial needs or the ones of the project (code signing certificates, Apple Developer Program fees, servers, etc). The success of some massive open-source projects may give a different impression, but most projects are not funded this way, or even at all. It's hard to find sponsors, extremely time-consuming, and nobody wants to pay for something free, especially companies. I'm still lucky (and grateful!) to have some sponsors, but it's far from enough. On the other side, freelancing worked decently well, but it means less time for Mockoon, and obviously, it's also very time-consuming!