Open source living
Hello, I’m aggre.
I’m the CTO of a small company called FRAME00 that operates Dev, a support service for OSS (open source software) developers.
I imagine most people reading this have never heard of FRAME00, so allow me to talk about us for a bit. Our mission statement is as follows.
We believe in the power of movements born from a single innovator. Through modern technology, the hurdle you have to clear to start your challenge has been lowered, but there are still many major issues when it comes to continuing that challenge. If we create a system where innovators’ attempts can be acknowledged and they can continue working on them, more people will take on the challenge. We’re going to create new frames and implement them into society with the vision of creating a world whose maximum creative potential has been realized.
We know that developers, artists, writers, and other creators are actively working to make our world into a brighter place. We also know that the vast majority of these people do this purely because they want to. And unfortunately, we also know that many of them become unable to continue and stop working.
Every member of our team has experienced frustration with this.
I, the CTO, was publishing open source software outside of my day job, but the number of projects I was able to continue updating had decreased quite dramatically. There was nothing particularly special about my projects, so I’m not too fussed about that, but I’ve often seen developers I know and respect struggling to balance their open source work with their careers, and eventually abandoning their projects.
Mayumi, our CEO, often works with artists and traditional craftspeople, and has seen that while they’re often on the verge of creating cultural treasures that will last for a hundred years, their economic valuations don’t reflect this.
Mariko, our COO, in the course of her work on projects supporting Japan’s financial institutions, has seen innovative contenders, and the massive barriers created by existing rules and customs, which these teams struggle to overcome.
Our dream is for the value of cultural and technical capital to be accurately reflected in the economy. Right now they’re completely unbalanced.
If we keep going the way we’re going, we’ll be stuck with a predictable, boring future. We believe that if we can fix this imbalance, the world will become a more exciting and active place.
As a starting point, in August 2018 we quietly released Dev, a service with the goal of utilizing the token economy to create a system for open source developers to continue their challenges.
At Dev, we’ve recently started up a sponsorship program, and as the first initiative, we’ve got a sponsorship from SIOS Technology, Inc.
As a result, open source software can now generate revenue through Dev tokens.
Open source developers who already own Dev tokens can buy or sell Dev tokens at EtherDelta. We aim at the growth of the market.
Dev is something every developer releasing open source software with npm can start using. To join, apply for registration on this page.
We need to build relationships with companies supporting open source software
By providing an equitable way for open source developers to make money, we want to make a world whose maximum creative potential has been realized, where open source software is sustainable to develop, and where people can keep challenging the limits.
To do this, we need support from businesses.
To businesses, the issue of sustainability in open source software is a risk that could affect the survival of their company, and solving this problem is a chance to grow their business.
In order to build an ecosystem where everyone involved in open source software — from the open source developers, to the users, to the corporate sponsors — can share in the growth, and to accelerate innovation, we’re currently recruiting companies to support us.
Please contact here if you’re interested.
Business activities tie in to supporting open source software
We’re developing Dev using the lean startup method, and we’re expecting to hit several exciting milestones soon.
From the business’s perspective, sponsorship will function as advertising, but we’re looking into ways to utilize Dev with a more direct connection to these businesses. If we can get businesses to use Dev for their regular business activities, no matter what those business activities are, it’ll mean that those businesses are supporting open source software.
We ourselves are looking forward to being able to utilize the token economy to provide a value that’s different to normal contributions.
We’ll take all feedback on board to decide what we need to implement first. Tell us what you think in our Spectrum chat.
We love open source software. We have a huge amount of respect for the developers who, motivated by a desire to create a better future, give their experience and skill back to the community.
We’re serious about growing the amount of open source software out there, so Dev doesn’t charge any usage fees or commissions. Dev’s mission is to make open source development sustainable through the token economy.
The best way you could show your support is by using Dev: for developers to participate with their own open source software, for users to utilize even more open source software, for investors to do business with us, and for companies to sponsor us.
To all who support our mission, let’s find out what lies over the next horizon for open source software!
