Re: Are devs who work on or use open source happier in their employment?

I've not seen any studies. I have a slightly different view as
developing is only part of what I do nowadays... so I'll share it/bore
you with it :)

The source isn't the only part, Open applies to a lot more in your
standard OSS project:

* I like that I can identify solutions and bugs through a web search
and not by having to contact technical support.
* I like that my choice of the product doesn't start with a contract
negotiation - OSS is generally take-it-or-leave-it licensing, yet not
an unfair license.
* I like that the 'vendor' and myself as the 'customer' largely want
the same thing - for the product to be better, with less bugs and more
features.

Summarizing - In Open Source the relationship is not antagonistic.
It's not perfect, the project don't want to add my special ideas or
agree that with my view of a bug, but generally I know the vendor and
I aren't in a battle with the vendor wanting more money and myself
wanting more value. There's less politics.

Hen

On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 8:37 AM, Grant Ingersoll <[email protected]> wrote:
> One of the things I've noticed in my day job, which is admittedly self-selecting since I work for a company that engages with people deploying open source, is that I routinely hear, how shall I say it, more enjoyment from the developers in their work as compared to the old days when they worked on a proprietary equivalent, and I think it even holds true when working on "troubleshooting" engagements where something is broken.  Since, most of us here likely work on open source, I'm curious as to what others think?  Are devs who work on or use open source happier in their day jobs?  And I don't just mean committers/contributors here, I mean people who are using the software to solve some bigger problem for their company and who may never do anything more than ask a question on a mailing list from time to time.  Has anyone seen _independent_ studies that say one way or the other?  (References please.)  I do think, that some of the answer depends on the quality of the software they are working on (just as it likely does when working on proprietary software), so perhaps I should separate out what could be called hobbyist open source versus open source that has a large community of followers (regardless of license) like Linux, ASF projects, Eclipse, etc.  Therefore, assuming two different pieces of software, one being proprietary and one being open, both of which will solve the problem, are developers who solve the problem with open source happier in their job?
>
> At any rate, my motivation for asking is that I'm writing an article on some thoughts in this area spurred by something a client told me (at a very old, established company, mind you) about why they wanted to get the word out that they were using open source:  they felt it would help them attract and retain developers b/c they would be more satisfied in their jobs b/c they got to work on innovative open source technologies.
>
> Thanks for your insights,
> Grant
>
>
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