People, or the community is one of the key component of open source projects. People across the world contribute to different open source projects. Have you ever wondered that, why people across the globe contribute to open source project? Here is an article written by Joel Lee, published in makeuseof that explores various factors that motivates people for contributing to open source projects.
Open source development is the future of software. It’s great for users like you and me because open source software is usually free (not always) and often safer to use because malicious code is less likely to be implemented.But what compels developers to contribute code for free? After all, writing code requires time, effort, and expertise. And while it’s true that open source developers can make money, it’s certainly easier through proprietary channels.In fact, many proprietary businesses are jumping on the train. For example, Microsoft recently decided to open source their .NET Framework. Quite a surprise, if you ask me! So the question remains: what benefits are there to contributing open source? As it turns out, the motives rarely involve money.