Most software projects are funded by the organizations that create them. These companies are, in turn, paid by the customers who use their software. This cycle is maintained only as long as customers are willing to pay for the product. If they deem the software no longer useful, they stop paying and the product is eventually discontinued. One concern the FOSS community often raises is that if a large group of people are heavily reliant on a piece of software, and the company that maintains the software suddenly ceases to exist, what happens to all the people that rely on the software?
The answer, probably nothing. The software simply won’t die. The company that makes it won’t go out of business since they’re so ubiquitous. When everyone needs what you make, the likelihood of going out of business is pretty slim. If nobody needs what you make, then nobody is sorry to see you go. FOSS, on the other hand, operates on the principle that a project that should die be artificially kept on life support by the community, for fun.
However, in the off chance that a company that makes a phenomenally popular piece of software does manage to go out of business, what then? Simple, the software will continue to work for decades, just like all unmaintained legacy software. Eventually, the next strongest player in the market will step up, make their software compatible with the old formats, scoop up all the legacy customers, and gain industry dominance. Naturally, FOSS advocates will complain about this new player since it won’t be Linux. Why would this almost certainly be the case? Because FOSS’ greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. It can’t die.
Because open source is inherently free (as in free of charge), developers who contribute don’t get paid for their work, instead only receiving a few pats on the back as a reward. Initially, adulation seems like a pretty good incentive to keep working on what many developers consider to be a hobby. However, most contributors have a real job, their after-hours coding efforts tend to result in open source table scraps rather than their best work. With no competition, no reward and nothing at stake, it leaves most FOSS developers with no incentive to innovate. Often, this quickly devolves into the project being ego-driven. If the developer’s ego isn’t stroked just right, he’ll get bored, throw a tantrum and abandon the project.
FOSS advocates would argue that the project isn’t dead, since the source code is all available for someone to pick up and continue, but this almost never happens. A FOSS project may never be able to die, but like Walt Disney’s cryogenically frozen head, they are capable of remaining in suspended animation until the end of time.
