Thumbing through the feed, the news on how this or that organization letting go of commercial options for day to day operations are mounting.
This led me to wonder what would be the impact if FOSS, be it on the OS front, productivity front or whatever, was to become truly a relevant option.
I’m painfully aware of the difficulties I’ve faced trying to take a few online courses to be faced with borderline desdain for not using Windows/Office/Etc and opting for FOSS solutions.
Paying/supporting a FOSS solution does not offend me. I’m happier when giving money directly to a developer or project than to an opaque company. But I’m just one.
But what could happen if the ones became millions, actively contributing with a few coins per year to projects we use daily?
What could/would happen in the short term (under a year), medium-long (one to three years) and the long term (over ten years)?
The scalability problem with FOSS is monetary and motivation.
The successful products need longterm financial security in order to plan and support their peoduct(s) - so, do we start seeing more subscriptions as corp. sponsorship fades away?
And, just like XKCD 2347, FOSS needs to step up and support the components they rely on
That’s going to need some more maturity from the developers too: it’s a great feeling doing something new and interesting, but - like having a pet - you can’t just abandon something when you’re bored of it, or too busy, without rehoming your project(s)…
That’s where I see the industry needs to improve before they’re really ready for the big time.