Where have the universities gone?

Posted Jul 25, 2007 7:00 UTC (Wed) by allesfresser (subscriber, #216) [Link]

Exactly the point. I don't feel compelled to answer that kind of remark, because I really just don't care. I hack on free software because I *like it* and I *believe in it*, not because it enriches me. Heck, it's probably actually done the opposite, if you count the opportunity cost. Oh well. :)

One has to make a living, it's true, but that's not the only reason for doing something. People have been plucking, screeching, whistling, hammering, and hollering away at music for quite a long time, just for the fun of it, not because they want to be the next U2 or Weezer or Whitney Houston (G*d help us), while working day jobs at the same time. They make the sacrifice of their spare time because they want to create something, to express themselves. In times past (before the all-rights-reserved meme infected the planet) they frequently would pass their works around and teach others to play them as well, because music only lives when people play it, and if only one person plays it, it pretty soon dies away. In the same way, people have also been hacking at software since the machines first crawled out of the slime, not necessarily because it made them wealthy (you need other skills for that) but because they found it enjoyable and challenging. Sometimes people happen to become wealthy through the exercise of their hacking or musical skills, but that's more an accident of fortunate coincidence and audacity than destiny. OK, I'll stop rambling now.