May 13, 2024 at 4:46:15 PM UTC

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Unfortunately @baldur is exactly right — and this goes for darling frameworks, devtools, and SaaS too: https://toot.cafe/@baldur/112428431536118693

The rise and fall of Gatsby.js is concrete evidence that millions in funding has no guarantee of long-term stability — especially for larger software shops (enterprise, education) with five or ten year project horizons. Once the runway is exhausted, that’s usually it and these shops are now forced to scope large-scale rewrites.

9 replies

Jon Kuperman 2 min later

@zachleat @baldur it feels like we (tech) like to pretend the business side of things doesn’t exist
1. Zach Leatherman 7 min later
  
  @jkup @baldur monetization and OSS continues to be an incredibly tricky problem
Random Geek 6 min later

@zachleat @baldur so many great projects big and small that faded or just dropped right off a cliff because they got money to sustain development, and then the money and structural support just went away.
Part of why I have mixed feelings about "big orgs should pay for the FOSS tools they use." Kind of a "yes and" — yes and there should be some kind of community support for budgeting assistance so sponsored projects aren't dependent on a money funnel.
1. Zach Leatherman 9 min later
  
  @randomgeek @baldur I think a lot about how full time sponsorship of 11ty almost killed the project
  1. Random Geek 10 min later
    
    @zachleat @baldur It's exciting! I was excited for you! It seems like such a great idea. And parts of it are.
    But oh lord it's so dependent on the whims of people who don't really care.
  2. Betsy. (a muffin). 51 min later
    
    @zachleat @randomgeek @baldur
    Would love to hear more about this, if you've done any writing on the subject.
    Before the xz crisis I naively assumed that monetary sponsorship was an easy solution to OSS sustainability, but I don't think money WOULD have helped that situation -- so I've been rethinking a lot, even though I do want to see folks get paid for labor.
    Interested in hearing more practical perspectives.
    1. Zach Leatherman 1 hr later
      
      @betsythemuffin @randomgeek @baldur I’m not sure that I can without it seeming like I’m not grateful for the time I was given. It just ended so poorly that it wrecked my mental health pretty bad.
      1. Betsy. (a muffin). 2 hr later
        
        @zachleat @randomgeek @baldur
        No worries! It's a difficult topic. I'm glad it didn't wind up killing 11ty as a project; it's a bright light in the howling darkness of bad frontend ideas.
Private reply 4 hr later