Open source software quite literally means software with open source code, which allows developers to modify, build upon, and share because its design is publicly available.
Open source has many benefits, some of which we dug into here, but many of its positive characteristics and traits like transparency, collaborative environments, community, early and often releases, security, longevity, and meritocracy are often not actually the case when taking part in open source projects.
We were on Twitter when we saw Brian Vaughn — -@brian_d_vaughn — ask the great question:
What’s the greatest lie of open source?
This sprung a ton of interesting replies. Some simple. Some insightful. Some downright funny. We’re going to run through some of the noteworthy replies, but first, our favorite meme reply:
With that being said there were a TON of replies. Here are some of note.
Meritocracy
From xnoɹǝʃ uɐıɹq — “ Meritocracy” very simple. In reply herm.wong wrote “Are you suggesting that people that run open source foundations can be just as political as people that work in organizations.”
From @SilvestriCodes — “That it’s neutral in any regard.”
From @sam_vde — “That the “free as in speech”-element is truly a core value.”
Community
From @zedshaw—“Explicit Lie: That everyone is welcome.”
From @ralex1993 — “That contributors will come just because it’s open-source.”
From Christian Heilmann — “The community will ensure quality”
From Divya — “Lie: Code > Community. Community plays such a huge role in the success and widespread adoption of a project.”
Career
From @zedshaw — “Implied lie: If you work for free on their code it will improve your career.”
From @niyazpk — “That it is somehow required to have a good career.”
From @cbarrett — “Getting to do open source for your day job is often counter-productive, personally and for your community. (It’s often great for your company though.)”
From Daniel Schildt— “That people can’t get hired if they don’t do open source software. (Most don’t need OSS experience, even while it can be helpful for learning.) A lot of people who do OSS don’t get jobs, even when they are definitely trying their best to show their skills. It isn’t enough.”
Cost
From Addy Osmani — “That it’s easy. Open-sourcing code is just the start of a long journey. If someone is lucky enough for a project to take off, maintenance & support have very real time and emotional costs. This isn’t always clear when looking at star counts.”
From Matthew Prince — “We’ll benefit from the wisdom of the community and it won’t cost us anything.”
From Becca Liz — “That there is an unlimited supply of people who will write and review code for free. Most successful OS projects need a funding source to survive.”
From Koen Bok — “That contributions are frictionless / free”
From @Makdaam — “It is free. Free as in ‘free puppies’”
Maintenance / Security
From @olivtassinari — “A closed issue equals a solved problem.’
From nullvoxpopuli— “That ‘someone else will fix it’”
From Hiku — “But perhaps the biggest lie is that open source software is more secure because it has more eyeballs on it. Bullshit. Most js libraries are run by 1 or 2 people, security is their last concern.”
From Belén Curcio — “That it is safe code because the codebase is open.”
From Jeff Cross — “Projects controlled by big tech companies are at lower risk of being abandoned”
Other
From David Khourshid — “Everyone will appreciate you for working so hard on something useful and giving it away for free”
From Sebastian McKenzie — “That just because it’s used by a lot of companies justifies financial investment and sponsorships”
From Morgaine Fowle — “That we were helping people — could change any day but at this point we are helping industries & companies”
From Luc Perkins — “Paying for software is bad”
From @mrdamog — “Software doesn’t lie. People do.”
And there was this…
From Claudio Cicali
Now let’s do “What’s the greatest lie of expensive, corporate closed source solutions?” please
So I think we will. If you liked checking out the responses make sure to check out the full thread on Twitter. And if you want to continue exploring open source, follow our blog here and make sure to sign up for the Snipply beta here to boost your productivity.
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