"Running a successful open source project is just Good Will Hunting in reverse, where you start out as a respected genius and end up being a janitor who gets into fights." - Byrne Hobart from The Diff on "Working in Public".

The book gives a nuanced overview of the many communities and economics of open source, from the idealistic communities of 30 years ago that we usually think about to the modern GitHub era.

"Working in Public" offers a unique lens into the economics and communities of online creatives, tracking open source's evolution from fringe idealism to becoming a ubiquitous utility - while creating trillions in economic value along the way (relatively little of which went to creators).

As work on a project gets less and less fun over time, the book offers creative solutions for incentive problems, ranging from creator monetization features from Twitch, to patronage, to a peer-sourced community, to not maintaining projects to get your attention back - all part of a buffet of emerging options for an economic model stuck in the past that looks like Esports a la 2011.

The book is also witty and funny (my favorite analogy for maintenance was a neighbor who comes and knocks on your doors with requests for how you should put up your Christmas lights), and has a high bar for craft throughout - everything is impeccably well designed, including the cover texture, page weight, and lie flat binding. The same level of craft and precision went into every detail about what was in and out of scope for the book, necessary given how demanding extractive contributors can be (and surely will be about this book!).

Creators first. This book lives that message, from its physical form to its message. Great book!

Nadia distills years of the open source movement, overlapping with the growth of social media, into readily understandable terms and highlights not only successes, but failures. In doing so, she makes a path forward achievable for both those wanting to help produce, and who want to consume, these kinds of abundant services without a tragedy of the commons kind of outcome. Well founded insights are wrapped into some thoughtful hypothesis of the road's forward and where they might lead. If you're interested in OSS, how it works, and where it's (likely) going - this is a must-read.

A great primer on various methods of contributing to and funding open source. It is refreshing to learn many of us struggle with the very same things and consider the successes from various projects.

The author has written an excellent account of open source software as it is developed on today. Even though the author is not a developer herself, she seems to have a better grasp of the topic than many developers among the open source contributors and consumers. While no definitive answers are provided in this book on burning questions such as how best to make open source “sustainable”, this book does a magnificent job of framing the pertinent issues and pointing towards the critical few variables that will need to be solved for. More importantly, this book discusses the important relationships around software projects - between maintainers and core non-code contributors, between project members and consumers, between maintainers and their platforms and tools. Given how important open source has become to the software industry, this book is a must read for everyone in either open source communities or in the commercial software development profession.

I'm a finance person working w/ some SaaS co.s and I needed some coaching up re: open source, Git versus GitHub etc. A big help! Just one example, pages 56 - 65 explain how to think about a project's user growth rates - versus contributor growth rates - via a matrix of clever analogies (federations vs. clubs vs. toys vs. stadiums). Also I enjoyed learning about some of the individual creators and personalities (some a bit wacky) behind the structure of the industry.

The book has it's moments and sometimes good insights, but the author writes too much about social media in general, than about open source projects. The last chapter is very disappointing,

I really got a lot out of this book, learned some things I really hadn't thought about in spite of having been a user and sometimes contributor and maintainer of open source software for many years. The ideas and concepts are exceptionally clear and supported with examples and footnotes for more reading. I managed to read it as a before bed book, something most technical topics do not manage!

Nadia Eghbal has done the open source community a profound service in writing this book. It is marvelous. The book covers both the social, economic and unseen costs of developing open source software. It gives the reader an appreciation for the subtleties of the process, and articulates the impact of the approach upon both the contributor and consumer of open source code projects.

The cited references add weight by example and provide a wealth of insight. Highly recommended.

Um livro profundo, que engaja desde o início, sempre trazendo insights e comentários interessantes sobre a comunidade do open source e suas implicações para o mundo moderno que cada vez mais depende dessa infra-estrutura.

Fascinating read on the history, present, and near future of open source software development. The author does a great job elucidating the phenomenon to a casual reader. She also touches on wider implications for social media and content creation.

Very engaging read. Great experience on Kindle app (iPad).

As a relatively new developer keen to get involved in open-source, this book has provided an excellent grounding in ‘why’ people write open-source products, how they avoid becoming overwhelmed by user requests/issues, and a few potential mechanisms for earning a modest livelihood along the way.

I particularly liked the author’s comparisons to news outlets and social media influencers as alternative examples of ‘content creators’. I had never really considered open-source developers to be content creators, but in retrospect this makes a lot of sense. We’re seeing an increase in ‘influencer culture’ in the tech space - now I understand why.

Definitely worth reading this book! I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Te plantea los problemas actuales del mundo del OSS, las preocupaciones y problemas que sufren los maintainers, las necesidades que cada tipo de proyecto OSS puede llegar a tener.

Veo opiniones negativas alegando que no profundiza en la historia del OSS, o que si te dedicas al OSS no vas a aprender nada de este libro. Totalmente erróneo.

Si de verdad te dedicas al mundo del OSS, en proyectos de los que dependes cientos o miles de usuarios, sabrás bien lo dificil que es ser maintainer, como lidiar con esos cientos y cientos de comentarios, notificaciones etc.

Este libro te hace no sentirte solo y a demás, te ayuda a gestionar esa frustración y a elaborar una estrategia para mantener tu comunidad alrededor de tu(s) proyectos.

This is very detailed book on a complex subject. I suspect the author spent NUMEROUS hours researching the different topics covered in the book. As a bonus her writing skills are superior. Very easy to read.