> One of the big reason I like computers and software is that it seemed to be borne out of genuine interest than out of dick waving necessity.
Couple of observations:
1. Large amounts of open source projects which seem to ego-driven (i.e. done not to provide genuine improvement, but done for amusement and promotion of the author).
2. Same for conference appearances (speaking at a conference to be able to say one spoke at a conference).
3. Commercial software in sorry state in order to maximize company profits, i.e. increase dick size of the owners.
It's impossible to escape our nature, no matter what field.
> done not to provide genuine improvement, but done for amusement and promotion of the author
I'd argue that if done for amusement, it's rather self-fulfilment than dick waving. Spinning the metaphor, some of us are not open-sourcing their project to put their external organs in other's face, but rather publish "just in case" someone may be interested in bootstrapping another project from here.
> Large amounts of open source projects which seem to ego-driven (i.e. done not to provide genuine improvement, but done for amusement and promotion of the author).
While that kind of thing does happen, many of the participants in older active projects seem to be driven by a genuine desire to improve things for our fellow people.
I speak at conferences so that I can say I speak at conferences so that I can earn more so that I can afford to pay for my kids to go to university. Does that make me a dick?
Couple of observations:
1. Large amounts of open source projects which seem to ego-driven (i.e. done not to provide genuine improvement, but done for amusement and promotion of the author).
2. Same for conference appearances (speaking at a conference to be able to say one spoke at a conference).
3. Commercial software in sorry state in order to maximize company profits, i.e. increase dick size of the owners.
It's impossible to escape our nature, no matter what field.