I recently wrote about why I think complaints about the stability of Windows are unfounded. Since then, I’ve actually said goodbye to Linux on all my machines and I now run Windows 10 exclusively. Here’s why…

  • Helix
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    13 years ago

    they either work on projects off the side of their desks or do it as their primary job. The latter will generally result in more polished results.

    I wouldn’t generalise that much; many great projects have begun as side projects and slowly evolved into full-time gigs, only to devolve back into side projects. Apart from that you may still be right ;)

    • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆
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      33 years ago

      Of course, I mostly meant that people being able to work with funding tends to help polish things that aren’t fun to work on. :) I think the key part is that the project can go through phases of active development and being dormant without going away entirely for a very long time. Sometimes projects even become abandoned, but then new people pick them up at a later time. Meanwhile, proprietary software dies as soon as the company runs out of money or maintaining it stops being sufficiently profitable.

      And another aspect is that the same project can end up moving in different directions via forks as well. GNOME is a good example where a lot of people didn’t like direction and made forks like Cinnamon that are now great projects of their own. Open source is truly a beautiful thing. :)