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by David Heinemeier Hansson.
Original Post: Growing an open source ecosystem
Feed Title: Loud Thinking
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Feed Description: All about the full-stack, web-framework Rails for Ruby and on putting it to good effect with Basecamp
While open source is a great model at any scale, it gains an almost unstoppable power as it tips, picks up rapid momentum, and establishes a real ecosystem. For open source projects aiming for a lasting impact, the greatest fear should be obscurity. Sourceforge is littered with open source casulties that didn't manage to get the ball rolling.
Thus, mindshare is paramount. Publicity matters. Passion attracts the next great programmer that'll patch the project past the present and into the next smart evolution. Combine passion with relevance and contemporary significance and you truly have a winning mix.
And few things drive relevance and significance as commercial adoption. Passion for the sake of it can only retain most people for so long. To keep the cooking up it's incredibly helpful to be able to eat off the same plate. Commercial adoption does that. It serves as both a retainer and an accelerator. Get better, faster.
Realizing this, I've been trying to help along this chain of events from the early days of Ruby on Rails. It was apparent in my own work life that the projects I needed to get on with business got a lot more attention than the ones that didn't. Rails was forged in the fires of necessity, driven by the commercial interests of 37signals. It owes more than technical finesse to that reality. It owes the drive to get out of obscurity.
Naturally, it has not past me by unnoticed that mixing passion, evangelism, and a drive to fight obscurity is an explosive cocktail. I don't believe that you can ignite high emotion without generating backlash as a residue. But it's worth it.
Because once you realize that an healthy ecosystem has arrived, it's overwhelmingly satisfying. To grow something out of nothing...
To see 170+ people sign up as "...earning a substantial or full paycheck from working professionally with Ruby on Rails" from 26 different countries.
To be booked for two keynotes, three sessions, and two tutorials across conferences like OSCON, JAOO, RubyConf, and EuroOSCON over the coming three months.
To witness transformations of hostility to tranquility in high profile developers
In the grand scale of things, we're of course still but a tiny blip on the radar. But considering that its been less than a year since the unveiling of Rails, I think we're doing pretty good. And I don't even want to prophesy what the enumeration of wins will look like a year from now. But I definitely believe that we'll look back at today's excitement and impact and laugh at the humble beginnings.
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